Hot Mess
by tiramisuspice
Summary: Maya Hart. The perfect personal assistant. Quick, efficient, great at her job, easy on the eyes. She can't stand me. But I'm absolutely taken by her.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I CAUGHT UP WITH EVERY SINGLE EPISODE INCLUDING TEXAS 1,2, & 3 AND I AM SO MUCH MORE EXCITED AND PUMPED FOR LUCAYA. SO READY FOR IT! LET'S GO MOFOS! HELL TO THE YES! THE SLOW BURN AND TRUE TEST OF PATIENCE HAS TRULY BEGUN! YEEEESSSS LUCAYA! MY BABIES ARE SO ALIVE! HOLY SHIT THE WRITERS ARE SO CLEVER AND I AM SO DOWN FOR THIS SHIT! WHOOO! (I will continue to guess what I said in August: I think GM First Date was the beginning of the end of Rucas and Lucaya was planned from the beginning. I HAVE SO MANY THEORIES AND RANTS YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.)**

 **And to commemorate it…**

 **NEW FUCKING STORY.  
**

 **This was a request by jellybeee on L &W for Lucas being the boss and Maya being his PA, but I started writing it and it became a full length story that I pretty much just crazy wrote out. Written because Adult!Fuckboy Friar needs to exist in this fandom too. And because I'm almost done with some stories. _And_ because I have NO SELF CONTROL. SO SUE ME WHATEVER. WHEN LUCAYA FEELZ ARE THIS STRONG, I CAN'T CONTAIN MY DESIRE TO WRITE.**

 **This story shouldn't be _too_ long I suppose, and hopefully, I can get it done before 2016 (probably not), but we'll see. Experimenting with writing without Angst, because I realized that's basically the only thing I ever write… Sooooo, this is just a lighthearted, stupid, incoherent romantic humour babbling piece about a womanizing CEO and his prickly PA.**

 **Rated High T (at most Borderline M) for Terrible Bosses  
**

 **Enjoy my loves!** **(I'll probably revise this chapter later lol)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

 **UPDATE 10.25.15** **: Hi Guest! I meant "violate" as in ravish, but I understand now how that word could have a _very_ negative connotation. When I was thinking of a word, I didn't realize that violate isn't as nice or clean cut a word as I thought. (My first language barrier issue ahahah! WHOOO). So apologies for that! I hope I haven't offended you. So I have changed "violate" to "screw" instead :) Thank you for letting me know.  
**

* * *

 ** _Prologue_**

"Urgh you're an idiot. Only you can get us stuck in this mess."

"Shut up and put your foot in this pantyhose leg." Lucas said from the ground, a brow raised as he held up the other hole of the bunched up stocking for her to pull on.

Maya pushed her glasses up her nose with a sneer of disgust before slipping her foot into the nude coloured stocking as she rapidly tried to button up her pressed blouse. It wasn't her ideal choice outfit with the stupid salmon skirt, but Lucas had been adamant that she wear that lest she look like anything less than a woman of Upper East Side upbringing.

Rich people. She couldn't stand them.

"Pantyhose? My Gammy uses that word." Maya snorted. "How old are you anyway?"

"Thirty." He smirked, knowing damn well the question was meant to be rhetorical mockery. Still. "But I've still got a refractory period of around ten minutes, so we have just about enough time for some fun if you're up for it."

Maya froze and stared down at him as he grinned mischievously up at her, sea foam coloured eyes dancing in the light. She could feel the furious flush on the tips of her ears. Why the hell did he always have to harass her?

"You are an abomination to society, sir." Maya said promptly, reaching up and tightening her stiff bun.

She hated having to tie up her hair like this, but her messy waves were a no go for this type of event so she'd had no choice but to conceal them as best as she could.

"Sir? What happened to _Lucas_?" He said with a chuckle, standing up and Maya tugged the rest of the pantyhose under her skirt and rushed to get on the expensive heels. Lucas took hold of her waist, pulling her close to him, a smirk tugging on his lips. "You were calling it out enough last night."

She pried his hands off and stepped back, an embarrassed blush forming on her face from his proximity.

"Because I was having a _nightmare_ that your disgusting ass became friends with my mom."

"Is that really any way to speak to your boss, Miss Hart?"

"Apologies, _Huckleberry_." Maya rolled her eyes, buttoning up the buttons of her beige cardigan. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

She took a step back so he could see the finished product of the ensemble.

"All good? Sophisticated enough?"

He gave her a once over, running his eyes up and down her form, and Maya instantly grew self-aware, her skin prickling, feeling as if he was slowly undressing her with his eyes. Why did she feel so naked under his scrutiny? She might as well have not even been wearing any clothes at all.

He brought his gaze back to hers with a smirk.

"Like a preppy, Upper East Side homemaker I want to screw."

She ignored him. "I hope you know you owe me for this."

"Don't worry." Lucas procured a small box from his pocket, opening it, and Maya took out the two pearl earrings that matched the necklace she had on. "My mother will love you."

"And if she doesn't? What if this doesn't work?" Maya asked as she put them in her ears.

"I'll let you cover me with anything you want and lick it off." Lucas said with a laugh, straightening up his tie.

Maya rolled her eyes, digging in her purse for her small mirror. "You're disgusting. Can't you keep it professional for once?"

She held up the compact in front of Lucas and he observed his tie's position in it, making sure it was perfectly in place. Once he had done so, he picked up her running shorts and ratty tank top, stuffing them in his briefcase.

"Alright, you good?" Maya asked, slipping her mirror back into her purse.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm about to go to a Friar family benefit posing as your damn fake girlfriend. Do you think I'm okay?"

Lucas smiled, pushing the emergency button again. With a soft clunking, the elevator whirred to life before pulling them up.

"Everything will be okay."

She sure as hell hoped so, because if this shit made her life infinitely more complicated than it needed to be, she was going to kick Lucas' ass to another planet. This was not in her job description or pay for that matter and he hella owed her for making her attend this with him.

The elevator dinged once they reached the penthouse suite, and Lucas smiled, holding out his hand to her.

"Shall we, Princess Hart?"

"I told you if you called me that again I would set your computer so clicking on certain links would pop up porn and viruses."

Lucas snorted. "My apologies, _Maya_."

Maya ignored the flash of heat that shot down her back and curled her hand into his, swallowing thickly as the doors to the elevator opened.

 _Here we go…_

* * *

How did I end up changing in an elevator with my pervert of a boss to play his girlfriend for his mother's charity benefit? Well, to get to that part of the story, we're going to need to go back.

Quite a bit.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: If I haven't responded to you yet for _anything_ at all, I promise I am slowly getting through it :) I'll get to it by early sometime this week! I promise! I just am running out of time for everything and haven't had a chance to check anything out or respond to stuff yet and I'll try my best, but I am so _busy_! LOL I'm failing at life right now ahahaha! (Plus I have an exam on Thursday, so there's that...)  
**

 **This story will be one big ass hot mess. (Hence the title).  
**

 **Thank you for the amazing reviews and preliminary reactions to this story ahahaha! You guys are awesome and I loves youuuuuuu! I know me starting a new story right now doesn't seem to make any sense but I promise I will try not to get too lazy and forget about others ahaha! xD  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

"I'm definitely going to miss this." Carmen sighed, staring at her compact as she slowly reapplied her lipstick.

"Miss what?" Lucas asked with a raised brow, slipping the straps of his belt back into his buckle and then the loops of his pants.

"These lunch time 'dates'." She replied, fluffing her hair and trying to get back some lift in it, "I got a call from Devon. I think he wants our break to end. So I don't think I can see you anymore."

"That's too bad." Lucas said in boredom, not really caring either way.

He wasn't too concerned about not seeing her again. Carmen's specialties lied in her stamina, but he wasn't particularly that intrigued by her technique. She was good for blowing off steam. Expendable. A four out of ten at best. At least she had her looks going for her.

"That's it?" Carmen gave him a cross look. "You're not going to ask me to give up on Devon or anything? You know if you asked me to be with you, I'd be with you in a heartbeat."

Lucas' lips curled up into a dirty smirk. "Now why would I do that?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"Well, we _have_ been seeing each other on and off for almost two months now. I would think you would want to make it official."

" _Seeing each other_?" Lucas let out a short, derogatory bark of laughter, giving her a pitying look. "Is that what you think this is?"

"Well… what else would it be?"

"We're fucking. That's all it ever was." Lucas snorted. "Why would I ever want to date someone like you? There's nothing interesting about you. You can't even give a proper blowjob."

Her jaw dropped, her face flushing hotly.

"Excuse me?!"

Lucas shrugged nonchalantly, looping one end of his tie through the hole in order to fix it and tie it up again.

"You heard me."

"My blowjobs are works of art!"

"I don't know who told you that lie." Lucas chuckled, "But art is subjective, babe. And what you just did, was not art."

"…My friends warned me not to get involved with you." she growled, angrily snatching up her purse from his couch and shoving her cosmetics in there, "You're nothing but an asshole."

"Well darling, you brought this on yourself. I don't know why you deluded yourself into believing I could be anything more. I told you when we started this that I was only interested in fucking you. Why are you so butthurt?" Lucas laughed, "Wait. Don't tell me you thought _you_ could be that one woman who could finally change me. The one who could tie me down."

Carmen's neck flushed in embarrassment, and she scoffed, looking away in disgust. Lucas knew he had definitely hit the nail on the head with that one. After all, it tended to be what most of his screws thought. When would people learn that Lucas Friar was not one to ever be interested in anything from a woman except for one thing?

"Are you upset?" Lucas mocked. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Go to hell, you scumbag!"

She ripped open his door and stormed out of his office, her fists clenched tightly in anger as she marched through the office floor.

"So, I guess this arrangement is over then?" Lucas called out into the hallway.

He watched her flip him off behind her shoulder as she briskly continued her way out. Lucas chuckled in mirth, sitting down on the edge of his desk.

"Hey, Melissa." He called out of the office to his personal assistant, "Could you send Carmen Monroe's office a complimentary flower basket as thanks for her services? I don't think I'll be needing them any longer."

There was no response.

"Melissa?"

Still no response.

Frowning, he stood up and left his office, hands in his pockets as he glanced at the desk near his office door. It was empty. But more than that, there was nothing on the desk but the computer. Everything else was totally cleared.

"Does anyone know where Melissa is?" he asked the people on his floor.

Dave looked up warily from his desk. "She uh… she quit, sir."

"Quit? When?"

"Yesterday sir. When she threw her stapler at you and shouted 'I quit! I'm tired of having to deal with your womanizing and all these stupid women blowing up this work phone with dirty messages and angry messages. I am done being your PA, Lucas Friar'."

"Right…" Lucas said pensively. "I forgot about that."

He had honestly thought she had been joking. That hadn't been the first time that one of his personal assistants had threatened to quit. But usually, they would threaten to quit multiple times before it actually happened. This was the first time that it had actually happened after the first threat.

"So does anyone know who the replacement is? Or _where_ for that matter?"

"As far as we know," Jade said with a shrug, setting down her phone, "There isn't a new replacement."

"Actually, there is."

The entire floor turned toward the new voice. It was a short blonde woman with glasses who had just turned the corner and arrived at the main office space on the floor. She looked a little flushed and out of breath, holding a large box in her hands with stuff inside of it. She walked briskly over to the secretary desk and set the box down on the table before straightening her clothes and walking over to Lucas with her hand outstretched.

"Maya Hart. I was notified by the agency of my relocation from HR to your personal assistance yesterday and directed to arrive today. Apologies for being late. I missed my subway." She said under one breath, pushing the glasses on her nose up, "I got here as fast as I could. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Friar. I've heard a lot about you."

Lucas stared at her, a brow slightly quirked as he took in her appearance. Nude, inconspicuous pumps. Dark stockings. A knee length black pencil skirt. Pressed white blouse buttoned up to her neck tucked into the skirt. Thick rimmed, black rectangular glasses on a heart shaped face. Blonde hair tied up in a tight bun on the top of her head.

She was unbelievably short.

And she had outrageously striking blue-gray eyes.

Decent enough figure from what he could make of it. And she was probably beautiful, if he took the time to _really_ look at her, but this whole look was just one big contradiction. Honestly, she looked like the type of woman who would be dancing completely wasted on a stripper pole but she was dressed like some strict ass librarian.

And not the sexy kind that would participate in salacious behaviour behind the bookshelves of the classic literature section.

 _What a disaster._

She was wearing a tight, polite smile on her face, but Lucas could definitely make out hints of an unreserved look of disgust on her features. And quite frankly, it looked like she was _sneering_ rather than smiling, the more he took in her expression.

"What a disappointment." Lucas drawled, taking her hand and shaking it languidly, "You would think they would have thought to send someone with a little more sex appeal than you. Does your grandmother know that you raided her wardrobe?"

Maya bristled almost immediately, her eyes narrowing dangerously as a harsh glint settled in those smoky blue-grays.

"I'm sorry my style doesn't suit your tastes, _sir_. I wasn't aware that part of the job for working under Lucas Friar was sexual harassment from a chauvinist pig."

There were light snickers and snorts from around the office after Maya's retort.

Lucas' lips curled up in a smirk. So she was also apparently a spitfire. And one who had no qualms insulting her new boss on the very first day of her job, no less. They all started that way in one way or another. But he always got to them. Then again, it could potentially be fun to see how far he could push her buttons before she snapped and quit. They all did anyway.

Lucas rose a brow. "Apparently, you also weren't aware of our no tolerance policy for tattoos."

Maya looked a little shocked. "How did you…?"

He turned over her wrist and shoved her bracelets higher up her arm. Previously covered by the bracelets on her arm was a little heart on the inside of her right wrist.

"It was a lucky guess." Lucas said with a smirk, loving the way her cheeks burned with a slight blush, "Your reaction confirmed it and then your gaze flickered to your wrist briefly to show me the location."

She snatched her wrist out of his hand. "I was told as long as it remained covered, it didn't matter that I had one."

"What a tacky tattoo." Lucas snorted, "An homage to your last name?"

"I was drunk." Maya growled, "In any case, what does my tattoo have to do anything with this job? Can we please move on, you damn Huckleberry?"

Lucas was very aware that the office had grown quiet by now, activity slowly ceasing as his floor grew more interested in the standoff that was occurring near his office door. No doubt they were surprised by Maya's insult and her aggressive responses.

"Huckleberry?"

"You sound like some cliché from a western cowboy movie." Maya said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "It fits."

He stared at her, intrigued by her almost brutal words. She had a lot of guts talking to her boss that way when she hadn't even been on the job for more than ten minutes.

"My accent's not that strong."

"It's strong enough, Ranger Rick." Maya snarled, taking a minute step back away from him when he smiled and pushing her glasses nervously up her nose again, "Anyway, I'm your PA now. I took the liberty of already looking into your planner, and it appears that you have yet to contact Margaret Pawsey for press inquiry and marketing for a benefit she will be holding in a few months with a celebrity guest speaker. I would like to schedule a meeting for tomorrow at ten since you don't seem to have any other engagements."

"Margaret Pawsey?" Lucas asked in slight confusion.

Maya rolled her eyes. "The owner of Paw's Prints."

No bells were ringing in his head.

"How is it that I know more about this than you? I literally just started today." Maya huffed in irritation. "The pet picture lady on those commercials who eats the dog food from the bowls and then rolls in the grass?"

"Right. Her." Lucas said with a chuckle, "I forgot."

" _Clearly_. So I will be scheduling an appointment." Maya responded. "I also checked out your social calendar. And based on your well known… _leisure_ activities around the company, it appears your next "client" was Carmen Monroe, so if you would like, I can send her a decorative fruit basket."

"Why a fruit basket? Why not flowers?"

"Because flowers will give her the wrong impression. And I'm guessing that furious woman who nearly knocked me over in the hall on the way to the elevator is Carmen, right? You definitely wouldn't want to give her the wrong impression. And fyi, Mr. Friar, any flowers you send to a woman, try to stay away from red and go with yellow."

Lucas rose an impressed brow.

"And finally sir, you have a hickey on your neck and your tie is crooked. I have some cover up in my purse if you need it. I suggest you take more stock in your appearance because as the CEO of this company, you are our image and our public image is very important."

He stared at Maya in silence, contemplating everything she had said. Maya said nothing, her hand resting on her cocked hip and a brow raised.

She was abrasive, rude, curt, and a little mouthy. Not to mention absolutely didn't give a damn about boss/worker relations. But she'd already assessed the entire situation and took her own measures to acquaint herself with his life as CEO. There was confidence in her gaze, almost cocky in a way. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Even without knowing her work ethic, he already _knew_ she was the perfect personal assistant.

"Maya Hart, you said?"

"Yes sir."

Lucas smirked.

"I look forward to working with you."

* * *

Maya Hart. I don't think I'd ever seen a more uptight or high-strung woman in my life, and that's saying something considering how I was raised. It was obvious she hated me. It was also very obvious that she was wearing a false persona of being a prude that didn't quite reconcile with her sharp tongue. Who was the woman behind that mask?

I was very intrigued.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I told you it would be one hot ass annoying mess, didn't I? Also, this story was going to be lax... but in planning it, I realized there is going to be some angst because I wanted to make it "deeper"? Ahahahah... sorry! I'll try to keep it for the most part chill and lofty, but you know I can't help it! Angst is my life and there is so much angst potential for this story! Urgh... but I have a headache.  
**

 **Thank you for the sweet reviews! You guys are incredibly kind and I honestly appreciate all of the support you've given me! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

Maya yawned loudly, stretching her arms languidly as she kicked her covers off her legs and climbed out of bed. She groggily checked her bedside clock, relieved when she realized it was about nine. She rubbed her sleepy eyes as she made her way out of her room and to the kitchen towards the delicious smell that was calling her name. The smell of bacon had roused her out of sleep and her stomach growled in anticipation at the possibility of getting the chance to enjoy the savory flavour.

As she walked in, she saw Riley at the stove top, poking at the bacon in the frying pan.

"You made us breakfast, Riles?" Maya asked, walking to the fridge.

She yanked it opened and pulled out the carton of milk, popping it open and chugging some down to quench her thirst.

"Ew. Can't you at least get a mug? And why do you always have to walk around in your bra and underwear? Your hair looks like a cat on your head. Urgh... I'm offended by your lack of propriety, Maya."

Maya snorted and gave Riley an amused glance. They could not be more different individuals. Riley was the prim and proper daughter of one of the best and most famous public attorneys New York had to offer while Maya was admittedly crude in every sense of the word. She supposed that's why they got along so well—they gave each other a taste of how the other half lived—but it never ceased to amuse her how much Riley would complain and nag about her habits even after living together for four years.

"I just woke up. Turn down Riley the Mom a little."

"I just don't understand how your first instinct isn't to get ready for the day and get dressed as soon as you wake up." Riley fluffed her ponytail. "Look at me. I'm all ready for my work."

"Well, considering work for me doesn't start for an hour, I'd say I'm in pretty good shape."

Riley frowned. "Except that work starts at eight for you now. So… You're not in good shape. In fact, you're an hour late."

There was a moment where Maya just stood there, milk carton halfway to her mouth, blinking at Riley and trying to figure out if her best friend was shitting her. But then she remembered getting a new job the day before. And that it did indeed start at eight.

" _Fuck_!" Maya exclaimed, slamming the milk carton on the counter and running her hand through her hair, "I have to go to work!"

"Well don't just stand there! Get to it!"

Maya had forgotten she had a new job for a second. Her day started with her boss's day now which meant she had to actually make more efforts to be on time for work. Back when she was in HR, it usually wasn't necessary for her to show up to work until around ten. She knew it was weird that she hadn't woken up from her alarm. She must have forgotten to set it the night before because she had stayed up late all night trying to finish an art assignment for her Masters course.

Maya wasted no time to run to her room and get ready for her day. She wasn't sure how lenient Lucas was about employees being late, but she had a feeling being an hour late wouldn't sit well with him. And especially not an hour late two days in a row. She hoped he would happen to overlook it and not notice she was absent.

Ten minutes later, Maya had finished getting dressed, bid Riley farewell, and was out the door with all her stuff. She was pretty sure she deserved a medal for how fast she had gotten ready and out of the apartment. She had had to forgo her heels in favour of flats so she could run more easily though, and she hated it. She felt like humans were towering over her today. Like she was some small thing in a great big world and could easily be trampled. It sucked especially that she worked in a business office where heels were common and she would no doubt look like a midget next to all the gazelles.

She _hated_ her height.

Maya blamed her mother for cursing her with this stupid gene for being small.

The subway ride was even worse because it was bustling with people heading to work and jobs or school and all the seats were taken. She'd had to fight and elbow her way to the pole so she'd have something for support, but she felt like she was being swallowed by the mass of bodies. And she absolutely hated being wedged against people, her face smushed into their chests or shoulders with every halt and pull of the subway.

Thankfully, the distance from her apartment to Friar Communications Inc was not that far so she'd been able to get off fairly quickly. She stopped by the Starbucks about a block down quickly to grab herself something to wake up her still lethargic mind. She would need to be fully awake if she wanted to survive another day as Fuckboy Friar's personal chew toy. She thought people were supposed to mature as they grew older, but clearly Lucas was still stuck on his college days if his womanizing was any indication.

It hadn't been that full in the Starbucks, thank goodness. In the end, she ended up getting something for Lucas too, hoping that maybe if she appeased him with coffee, it might hopefully distract him from the fact that she was running late for her second day in a row. She hadn't had to talk to him all the rest of the day before due to his filled up schedule, and she had left before he did, but this confrontation if he caught her was unavoidable.

Maya took a deep breath as she raced down the hall as soon as she got off the elevator, rushing on her way to the main floor. She rounded the corner quickly, mentally begging for Lucas to be engaged in some tryst or not be in yet so that he wouldn't notice her absence.

But she had no such luck.

Lucas was sitting on the edge of her desk, checking the watch on his wrist, a distinct frown on his face. Maya felt herself sweat, wondering if she should just turn around and run back the way she came from and pretend she had gotten sick. But as soon as that thought crossed her mind, Lucas' gaze lifted, and their eyes met.

He stood up from her desk with a raised brow, his expression particularly displeased.

"You're late. I have a meeting in ten minutes."

"I know." Maya said, rushing over to her desk, "I accidentally— _Ah_!"

And then something happened.

Maya _swore_ she had to have been channeling Riley or something, or maybe it was her unfortunate inexperience walking in shoes without a heel, but the worst thing that could possibly have happened in this situation happened.

She tripped.

And it wasn't just a simple trip to the floor.

It was a _colossal_ exhibition where the cups flew out of her hands and her limbs flailed wildly and she landed on her hands and knees, her chin briefly hitting the ground as she tried to stop herself from ending up sprawled all over the floor. Her glasses flew off her nose, skittering somewhere she couldn't see, and Maya knew the halfhearted bun on her head broke out of its encasing, her hair tumbling down and landing in a curtain around her face. She heard the cups land innocuously on the floor nearby, the scent of coffee permeating the air.

Great.

The one day she'd decided to go without her trusty heels was the day she was horrendously late, tripped and fell, _and_ dropped two fairly expensive coffees.

She heard several gasps in the office and slowly pushed herself up to her hands with a groan, unsure why they were sounding so alarmed. Maya flipped her hair out of her face and looked up at Lucas, wondering why the office had suddenly grown quiet. Too quiet.

Lucas was staring down at her silently, his jaw clenched and eyes partially glinting with something a little dangerous.

And she knew why.

There were coffee stains spilled all over his shirt and part of his pants. It formed a dark brown, sticky stain along the front. Lucas peeled the wet shirt from his skin and held it a slight distance away, staring down at it almost as if in disbelief before his gaze went back to hers.

"Shit…" she muttered.

On the flip side though, Lucas deserved mad props for not visibly reacting to getting hot coffee splashed on him. And it was actually kind of funny in its own way.

Hell, scratch that.

It was absolutely fucking _hilarious_.

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, quickly averting her gaze to the floor and feeling a laugh bubbling up deep in her chest. A slight snort escaped her lips before she could tamper it down, and she folded her lips in to stop the laughter before it burst out. There were slight snickers around the office floor as well and Maya had to tune them out because she had a feeling if she didn't, she would dissolve into laughter.

"Is something amusing, Miss Hart?" Lucas asked calmly.

It was the kind of deadly calm that Maya knew meant she was pretty much in deep shit.

She was saved from response when someone walked through their floor, approaching her and Lucas, each of their footsteps growing closer as they made their way over.

"Well, well… If it isn't Maya Hart. I'd recognize that juicy ass anywhere. I didn't realize you were working for Lucas Friar now. It's good to see you again."

Maya turned her head slowly behind her, squinting at the person through her blurry vision sauntering towards them. She could recognize that labourious, hands in pocket, I think I'm such a badass gait and cheap cologne and mop of curly hair and skin crawling inducing voice anywhere. She stiffened almost immediately as he came closer and more in focus and her suspicions were confirmed.

"Gary Caldman." Maya muttered in disgust. "Can't say the feeling is mutual."

She could feel his gaze on her ass as his lips curved up into an amused smile, and she fought the urge to climb to her feet and throttle him.

"I see you've changed up your style quite a bit since I last saw you."

"I realized my old style was not conducive to a proper and professional office environment. And was a distraction for the particularly pea brained individuals such as yourself." Maya said sharply, piercing him with an angry glare.

He laughed, a short bark of laughter that made Maya's teeth grit and fists clench on the floor. Two years of not hearing that revolting laugh yet it still managed to grate every single nerve in her body to this day.

"You two know each other?" Lucas asked.

Maya glanced up at him and realized that he was looking at her with a raised brow.

"I was a personal assistant of his company before I relocated to HR in your company."

And good riddance. She'd hated working under Gary. Lucas seemed like an asshole, but Gary was on a whole other level altogether. He made dealing with Lucas child's play.

"It's true." Gary said with a laugh, "I would have kept her around longer, but I had to fire her because she was… uncooperative."

"I see…" Lucas said pensively, his brows furrowed.

"I didn't realize you liked being on your knees so much, Maya." Gary sneered, "If I had known, I would have requested you to be on them more often."

"And I would have shoved more heels into that needle thin dick of yours." Maya responded evenly. "How's it doing by the way? Have your balls finally dropped yet?"

"Miss Hart." Lucas growled, and she bristled a bit when his tone of voice was low and slightly treacherous.

Shit, was he mad at her?

"Yes sir?"

He walked forward until he was standing directly behind her, in between her and Gary.

"Will it be detrimental to my company's progress if I lose a client?"

Maya frowned, wracking her brain for the information she'd memorized. "Uh. It depends. Which client?"

"Gary Caldman."

Activity on the floor stopped entirely as everyone who wasn't already watching the spectacle turned to the already escalated situation.

"Excuse me?" Gary asked in confusion, his eyes slowly narrowing.

Maya's brows rose in surprise. "I don't believe so. You have enough leeway to lose three or four clients of his caliber, so you should be fine."

"Very well." He responded. Maya could just _hear_ the smirk in Lucas' voice. "It has been brought to my attention by my personal assistant that I will not stand to lose anything if I remove some dead weight. Gary Caldman, I regret to inform you that Friar Communications Incorporated can no longer lend you our services. I hope you understand."

He was calm, _cold_ , collected and callous, not even at all ruffled by Gary's responding look of outrage. And in that moment, Maya could see that Lucas was every bit the fantastic businessman she had read up on. She didn't know what it was, but despite being drenched in hot coffee, he was carrying himself in a detached, unaffected manner and was still wholly intimidating, and she wouldn't lie. It sent chills down her back.

"What the fuck is this about, Friar?"

"This? Oh, this is about you disrespecting my personnel, Gary." Lucas chuckled in mirth. "The exit is that way, by the way. I'm sure you can see yourself out."

Gary's neck turned red as his fists clenched, and he glared at Lucas. They squared off for a few silent moments, the air charged with belligerence and some kind of buzzing energy that made Maya wonder if the two were about to take shots at each other. Lucas sure as hell seemed like he was ready to. Everything about his demeanor and the way he was standing stiffly and irately made Maya think so.

But the situation diffused when Gary turned on his heels and stormed away. Maya didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until she released it once he had left.

Maya could not believe that had just happened. Had Lucas defended her? She wasn't quite sure and she didn't know what to make of the action. It was surprising.

She was even more surprised when Lucas came back around to her front. He stooped and took her arms, lifting her up gently and pulling her to her feet. Then he bent down and picked up her glasses from the floor and carefully slid them back on her face.

It was oddly sweet in a way, and Maya knew her heart had skipped a beat as she stared up at him, blinking in surprise.

At least…

Until he took her chin in his hand and lifted her face up.

He was not smiling.

"Miss Hart. I take it you make it a habit of antagonizing people?"

Maya frowned but didn't respond, wondering why she suddenly felt the room drop about forty degrees. Lucas' eyes were frigid, not exuding any warmth whatsoever. She automatically put her guard up, recognizing the need to bring out the claws because she had a feeling whatever else would come out of his mouth would piss her off.

"I'm forgiving you for this little indiscretion." he growled, "But I think it goes without saying that I expect better of you. I hope this lack of punctuality and other inconvenient behaviour as well as your audacious impertinence doesn't continue."

Maya glared up at him.

"It was one little mistake, damn." she muttered, fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

Who the hell did he think he was? The asshole.

Though she was rather disappointed in herself for fucking up so badly. Maya prided herself on her impeccable work ethic and abilities even if she had a tendency to mouth off at people who pissed her off. And maybe she was mouthing off way more than she usually did, but she couldn't help it. A lot of people pissed her off.

And Lucas Friar _definitely_ pissed her off.

He made her a little nervous too if she was going to be perfectly honest. Or rather than nervous, he _disgusted_ her with his sickeningly handsome face and insanely alluring scent and under the cut of his suit, she could tell he had a body that she would love to lick whipped cream off of. Maya wasn't one to generally be attracted to her bosses—seeing as how many of the ones she'd had were grubby old men—but dammit. Lucas was ridiculously attractive to her. Though his personality was off.

Maya had read up quite a bit on him in order to prepare for her new position. And the stuff she found out about his rather prominent womanizing was not satisfactory. It was hard to believe that a man with such a lack of care regarding his sexual promiscuity was such a brilliant businessman who'd been running this company impeccably ever since his father had run off to another country after a parachuting accident and left it to Lucas unannounced. It was kind of hard to believe and a pretty interesting story, but Lucas underwhelmed it with his general bachelor behaviour, which many people were quite aware of apparently.

"You know what else is a mistake?" Lucas responded, his voice dropping so only she could hear his words, "Having a hooker for a PA."

Maya's jaw dropped at his words. She took a large step back from him, shoving his hand off her chin, anger coursing through her veins.

"I am _not_ a hooker."

"Really? Could have fooled me." he drawled, staring at her hair, "Have a little more decorum."

And with those words, he left her standing there, walking back into his office and slamming the door shut.

Maya was pissed off. She glared daggers at his door, her jaw partially unhinged as her mind ran through what he had said to her. Where the hell did he think he even had the right to say that kind of shit to her?

What an absolute dick.

It was bad enough that she was blonde in a business environment. It was bad enough that she was called a slut sometimes and subjected to derogatory commentary about her sleeping with bosses just because she was a secretary in an environment where many considered it to be a man's world. She could tolerate those, because they were from random ignorant idiots who knew nothing about her life.

But to be treated so rudely by her boss was not something she would allow.

If Lucas thought he could talk to her however he wished and treat her like dirt just because she was his subordinate, he had another think coming.

Clenching her jaw, she stormed to her desk, ignoring the curious glances some of the other people were giving her. She plopped in her desk chair and booted up her computer, tapping her nails loudly on the desk as she waited. He was going to get his.

When her computer was on, Maya immediately went to the net and visited the website for Suzie's S&M. She perused the contents as she tied her hair up back into its proper bun before finally settling on a product. With a slightly dark chuckle, she placed her purchase through the company card and then inputted Lucas' email and address for receipt.

It was a grave abuse of her power as his PA, and she knew it was the kind of insurrection that could get her fired, but she didn't care in the least. He had called her a hooker. No way was she going to sit there and take that kind of insult lightly. Maybe it was a pride thing, but Lucas had it coming for his insensitive remarks.

About ten minutes later, her desk phone rang.

"Friar Communications Incorporated. This is Maya Hart speaking. How can I help you?"

 _"Miss Hart. A word please."_

It was all Lucas said before he hung up. Lucas did not sound pleased at all. Maya snickered to herself, standing up and straightening her skirt before walking into his office, her head held high. It seemed he had extra clothes in his office that he had changed into. His dirty pants and shirt were folded, resting on his couch nearby.

"Why is there a charge on the company card addressed to me for one hundred dildos from Suzie's S&M?" Lucas asked without prelude, reading off the screen of his computer before looking up at Maya. "I don't recall ever requesting that kind of purchase."

"Oh that? I bought those for you, Huckleberry."

His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because you're a dick." Maya said with a shrug, "I figured why not commemorate that by showing it through the purchasing of several dicks in many different shapes and sizes. Get it? Because it doesn't matter how you behave or what you behave like or what you say or do. You'll always be a dick of some sort."

He rose a dangerous brow. "You know, I'm finding your complete lack of professionalism and respect rather agitating."

"You know what else is agitating? Being called a hooker by your boss."

Lucas looked annoyed. "So your responses are petty, and quite frankly, juvenile acts of rebellion?"

"Quite frankly, yes. Maybe next time you should consider _your_ complete lack of professionalism and respect when addressing me. I may be your personal secretary but I am no pushover and I refuse to be treated as anything less than a human."

"Is that so?" His lips turned up into a sneer. "Miss Hart. I'm inclined to believe that your behaviour demonstrates an extreme lack of maturity or growth and that perhaps your employment was erroneous. I'm seriously reconsidering whether you should remain in your post or not. After all, the amount of trouble you've caused in one day alone is something most other PAs don't achieve within months.

"So what? I don't care if you fire me. You're screwing yourself over because you'll never find a secretary as good as me again." Maya said confidently, "Besides, even if you fire me, it doesn't matter anyway. There are always _hooker_ jobs for me lining up around the corner, right?"

Lucas sighed in annoyance, rubbing his temple and looking like he was counting to ten in his head.

"And just so know, I organized your files for your two o'clock appointment with Babineaux Enterprises. They're on my desk. Also, there's a dry cleaners down the street from here. The owner owes me two favours. I can get your clothes dry cleaned within the next hour or two before the stain sets in." Maya smiled brightly, fake sweetly and saccharine to the point that she knew it looked sarcastic. "Do have a nice morning, Mr. Friar. Let me know if I should expect a pink slip before the day is over."

She walked back out of the door without waiting for a response, pushing her glasses up her nose and hoping her brazen display of confidence and self-assurance would help her keep her job. Because despite her words and attitude, she couldn't afford to get fired and lose _another_ job. She'd promised Riley she would stop antagonizing her bosses and losing jobs, because they really needed the money, but she honestly couldn't help it. Why were people so annoying?!

But from the intrigued gleam in Lucas' eyes as he watched her leave, she believed she succeeded.

Well… she really hoped she did.

Because if she got fired, Riley was going to kick her ass to kingdom come.

* * *

Of course, back then, I didn't realize why he had been so cruel to me after the Caldman incident. I thought he was just being a dick. But he was trying to warn me in his own deranged asshole way. He was trying to protect me. I just didn't realize what he was protecting me from.

Until it came out of nowhere and slapped me in the face.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm tired of studying. So, so tired. I'm seeing damn spots every time I read... Lol I think I'm losing my** ** **fucking** mind... **

**Anyway, this is the last intro chapter. After this, the plot will pick up faster and messier. I like messy stories (❁´ω`❁) They make me happy. If characters are OOC, it's intentional. I'm taking only one aspect of their personalities and expanding upon and focusing on that specific side only. I want to see how far I can stretch them out of ICness without making them completely different characters. And as I mentioned last chapter, there is a "darker/deeper" theme underlying this story. You'll see.  
**

 **Thank you for being the lovely lovely people you are. I'm a fucking mess, yet you all still read the messiness of my messy messes of messed up stories. I appreciate all the kindness you've given me. Thank you kindly, my loves :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

"But you know, when I tried to ask her why she wasn't interested in continuing the thing we had going…"

Lucas slowly drummed his fingers on his desk, his chin resting on his palm as he stared absentmindedly past Zay and out of his open office door, ignoring his friend's chattering. His gaze was settled on Maya who was speaking to someone on her desk phone, typing on the computer as she glanced at a file beside her all the while. She had long since fixed her hair, and her clothes were no longer as in disarray as they had been when she showed up that morning. Her glasses were perched on the top of her head, the piercing blue-gray of her eyes unobstructed by the glints from the reflections off the glass.

Lucas had been wondering about Maya without her glasses and the bun, and he had gotten the chance to see it when she had fallen and spilled her coffee on him. He would be lying if it hadn't been wholly surprising. He had been right about Maya's looks. She really was beautiful. And not just the kind of beautiful that made people look twice and then stare. The kind of beautiful that also made one assume she was easy.

And above all that, Maya was curvy. Short, yes. Even with heels on, the top of her head barely reached his shoulders, and without heels, she was _tiny_ but what he hadn't noticed yesterday was Maya's abundant curves. And of those curves, her ass. As much as Gary's comment had irritated Lucas, he hadn't been able to stop himself from actually glancing at it. It was the kind of ass that put dirty thoughts in mens' minds and automatically tossed thoughts in the gutter and corrupted an individual into perverse behaviour. The kind of ass that would drive a man to ruin.

He'd been wrong in his original assessment of her.

Maya was a disaster.

And she was also unbelievably sexy. No doubt about it. And though he figured she probably tried to keep it at bay, her chaotic sex appeal oozed and seeped out all over the place, especially without her glasses and when her hair had been tumbling down her back. Hell, because of that he'd been thinking about her all afternoon, and not all of his thoughts had been strictly professional.

He believed he understood now why Maya chose the outdated, unsexy librarian look as her go to. Especially after Gary had all but revealed his harassment towards her when she used to work for him. It made his blood boil. Yes, Lucas himself was particularly interested in sex with beautiful women, but he did not in the least condone belittling and dehumanizing others for sexual needs. That was another reason why he had terminated any possible negotiations with Gary, though that was more of his personal reason.

But it did only heighten the intrigue of Maya Hart.

He'd done some research on her. As he had expected, she was one of the best of her agency. She'd graduated from college four years ago and since then, had not had the chance to pursue a Masters in art for whatever reason until now. He didn't understand why she was an assistant when clearly she had interests in other work, but he'd taken a look at some of the art she apparently had won many awards for throughout the years. She was an exceptional artist with a kind of avant garde passion that he rarely found in many art by fairly young individuals. There was a depth to her work. One that was usually found in more experienced artists' work, yet she had it.

She'd been fired from or left several of her secretarial posts over the course of the four years she'd been working for the agency, but what he found strange was that there were no complaints regarding her work ethic or her abilities in assistantship. It made Lucas curious as to what the actual circumstances behind her employment termination were. But from Gary's earlier inappropriate behaviour, Lucas had a feeling he knew the exact reason why.

Maybe that explained why Maya was such a prickly PA.

And speaking of prickly…

Her prank had been brilliant. Even he could not deny it. It was the exact kind of thing that he would never expect from a personal assistant, yet she'd been bold enough to do it anyway, not giving a damn about the consequences. It wasn't often that Lucas met anyone bold enough like that. In the world he'd grown up in where people tiptoed around each other, it was a refreshing change of pace.

Maya set the phone back on the hook and as if realizing she was being watched, turned and glanced at him. Her gaze met his and almost immediately, her face wrinkled in disgust. With a scoff and roll of her eyes, she turned back to face her computer and continue her work. Lucas almost snorted in amusement.

He honestly could not lie and say he hadn't found the ploy for revenge amusing.

He was still partially irritated with her though. She clearly did not care about her behaviour and above that lack of care, she didn't even care if he fired her either. Though it pissed him off that she wasn't even a little bit intimidated, he had to say, he _liked_ it. Her disobedience was actually quite an attractive feature on her.

He wondered if that was why he hadn't gotten rid of her already.

Insubordination of that calibre would have definitely provoked him to fire anyone immediately, yet, he didn't want to. She amused him. No matter how annoying her snarkiness and sass was. And she was right. She was a very good employee, and as much as he wanted to stay mad at her, in two days of working, she'd already managed to reorganize his schedule in a constructive manner. Not only that, his social calendar had been rearranged so that there were at least two weeks before he called the same woman so that he wouldn't meet with one too often and give them the wrong idea. She'd left him a memo stating that was the best way to ensure less misunderstandings of the status of the relationship.

But she was much too snarky and had a complete disregard for any formality, and in a business world like this, that kind of mouthiness wouldn't bode well for her in the long run. He hadn't wanted to insult her, but Lucas had been trying to show her that not everybody was as lenient to that and her mouth could get her in trouble. In a position as a secretary, harassment would be aplenty. Especially since she was above average in the looks department.

She needed to be careful of being perceived as loose or being taken advantage of on thoughts that she would be easy. Sure, his methods could have used a little bit of work, but he wasn't able to think of a better way to get his point across when her lips had been slightly pouted and her eyes were half-lidded and held a kind of seductive undertone that Lucas had almost gotten lost in as she stared up at him.

Even now, he could still remember the way she'd looked up at him through her eyelashes as he put her glasses back on. And the worst part was he knew it wasn't even intentional on her part.

Maya Hart was going to be a real problem. He just knew.

But was it worth it firing her?

"Lucas, you paying attention, man?" Zay asked, snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"No, Zay." Lucas sighed, rubbing his temples. "Hey, sorry to do this, but can we raincheck this meeting?"

"The marketing campaign meeting?" Zay asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah."

"We were finished with that an hour ago."

"What?" Lucas stared down at the open memo in front of him and realized Zay was right. They'd concluded negotiations about an hour ago.

"I've been talking about Cherry for a while now." Zay's brows furrowed. "Clearly something is bothering you."

"Not something… Someone."

There was a knock on his doorframe, and Lucas and Zay glanced in that direction. Maya was standing there patiently, waiting to be addressed.

"Yes?" Lucas asked.

Maya walked into the office, readjusting her glasses on her nose. "Your mother called, sir."

"I was expecting it. What did she want?"

"She's travelling to Munich. She believes your father might be hiding out there from an image they caught of him at the airport."

Lucas rolled his eyes. Not this stupid game again. His father would pop up somewhere, his mom would chase him to make him come home, his father would run again. This had been going on for four years now. He would have thought his mother would have taken a hint that his father didn't want to come back and be in the corporate world anymore. It was all just so ridiculous. His father had gotten in a parachuting accident and during his convalescence, became convinced that life was too short to spend it wasting away his life on a company he only started because it was expected of him. Lucas' father split, and now his mother was trying to find him because 'What would the neighbours think?' if their family wasn't absolutely perfect.

"Did she mention when she's coming back when my father gets away?"

"No, but she did leave a number for a Katelyn Mercer that apparently she wanted you to call."

"Wasn't she an ex of yours in college, Lucas?" Zay snorted. "Is your mother still trying to arrange a marriage through matchmaking?"

"Arranged marriage?" Maya asked incredulously, raising a brow, "What is this? Sixteenth century England?"

"It might as well be when you grow up in the Upper East Side." Lucas responded, recalling how his mother had tried to put him with pretty much all of their family friends' daughters to test the waters. (He'd 'tested the waters' all right). "Can you toss the number? I have no interest in calling her."

"I figured you wouldn't. I didn't bother writing it down." Maya shifted on her feet, looking like she was fidgeting uncomfortably. Lucas wondered if it had to do with her choice of footwear. He had a feeling she wasn't one to leave without high heels on her feet. "But I called in a favour. If you want your clothes dry cleaned, I can go take care of that for you now."

"The clothes are on the couch."

Maya nodded and walked across his room to where he had laid out the coffee stained articles of clothing. She stooped over to pick them up and Lucas forced his gaze to stay away from her. But Zay wasn't even trying to hide his stare, checking her out unabashedly with an appreciative look.

"Ohhh. I see. Is this why you want to postpone our meeting, Lucas?" Zay laughed, waggling his eyebrows. "I understand why you dropped Carmen now. Why settle for an appetizer when you can have an entrée if you know what I mean."

Lucas rose an irritated brow at Zay, intending to tell him off for his inappropriate comment, but before he could say anything, Maya straightened up stiffly and spoke.

"Mr. Babineaux." Maya said softly… a bit _dangerously_ , her back still not facing them. "Do you want to know something interesting?"

Zay frowned in confusion. "Uh, sure."

"Isaiah Babineaux. Thirty years old. Lucas Friar's best friend and close confidante and also a decided endorser of the bachelor lifestyle. An underdog all his life, underachiever for most of his adulthood. Sex and partying was your decided motto throughout college, despite your mother's protests. No one expected you to create your own enterprise. You were married at twenty three to a stripper—Las Vegas trip with your bros—divorced within a year, but still surprisingly on good terms with your ex-wife." Maya turned around, her expression blank though there was an acerbic glint in her eyes. Zay's brows furrowed in alarm at her easy recitation of his life. "You're apparently very fond of anal, according to many, many different accounts. And here's the kicker. You have a subscription to a magazine catalog called Satisfaction which you order from frequently. Now the funny thing is, Satisfaction is advertised as an _entertainment_ magazine—quite misleading, I will say. Because you see, _entertainment_ is not quite what they sell. Or rather, _entertainment_ is not specific enough. Need I go on, sir?"

Zay's jaw had dropped by that point, his brows high on his forehead as Maya watched him calmly, a shrewd gleam in her eyes. Lucas felt his lips pull up in a smirk, rather impressed by her ice cold demeanor and calm when irritated.

"How—"

"Do I know? I'm Mr. Friar's PA, Mr. Babineaux. I have to acquaint myself with every aspect of his life, and that includes his associates' and friends' lives as well. Yours in particular stood out to me, what with your obsession with cha—"

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry!" Zay cut in quickly.

"We won't have any more of those insinuations, will we? Huckleberry here may have slept with seven out of the ten PAs he's had in the past year and a half." Maya sneered in utter disgust, giving Lucas a dirty look out of the corner of her eye. "But I'm never going to be one of them. That's a guarantee."

Lucas held her gaze, amused by her sheer distaste for him. She really couldn't stand him. And he didn't know why, but he liked it. It was crazy, but in that moment, he knew he couldn't fire Maya Hart.

"Miss Hart."

Maya rose a brow.

"I've decided to keep you on the job."

She didn't have a visible reaction, though he did notice her shoulders relax a bit.

"Yeah, I know. You may be an idiot, but I don't think even you'd be so stupid as to let me go."

"I expect you to be punctual from now on." Lucas continued. "And please don't ever bring coffee again."

"Yeah, yeah."

She turned around, though he did notice the small smile that had appeared on her face before she could hide it. Lucas wouldn't put it past her to bring coffee from now on just to spite him.

"Stop looking at my ass, Zay." Maya tossed over her shoulder as she walked out of the door.

Zay whistled low, looking at Lucas with a raised brow. "Okay. I can see why you're _bothered_. Your pants feeling tight? Because _damn_. What was that? I've never seen a personal assistant like that before. Can you just imagine her standing on top of you in dominatrix gear with a riding crop and that uptight ass bun while you're handcuffed to—"

"Zay, stop." Lucas watched as Maya spoke with Dave about something.

Dave handed her a file, and she smiled congenially before making her way briskly out. Of course, he wouldn't lie that now that Zay had put the image in his head, he had briefly imagined it. Though in his mind, Maya's hair was down, and she was watching him like she was utterly disgusted with him.

Lucas shook his head. "She's problematic."

"Only because you want her."

"No."

And he didn't. She was attractive, and he'd had some fairly sexual thoughts about her, but he didn't want to act on his thoughts and sleep with her.

"Don't feel bad about it, Lucas. Those kind of women? They're a dime a dozen. They get in your head. And next thing you know, the only thing you'll be thinking about is how good her blowjobs could be."

"Maya Hart is an excellent PA. I won't disrespect my assistant by diminishing her value for what her sexual prowess could possibly be. That's an insult to the image she's trying to cultivate as a business professional."

Was what he said. Lucas' mind was, however, thinking of an entirely different thing. Namely, how flexible she might be. And the thought wouldn't leave his mind.

"Well she's not my secretary." Zay snarked. "And only an idiot wouldn't fantasize about those red lips wrapped around their c—"

" _Dammit_ Zay! Shut up!"

* * *

Of course, if anyone had asked me that day if I was interested in Maya, I would have said no. I thought about sex with attractive women all the time; this wasn't new. But truth was, I had developed a "crush" within two days of knowing her, for lack of a better word. I just didn't know it at the time. And I would continue to not realize.

Until Maya got in trouble.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Urgh it's early. But I couldn't sleep because my cat wanted to play and clawed my face... So here we are. I'm up. My gift from my cat to me are healthy scratches across my cheek and chin. Happy fucking holidays to me.  
**

 **Wtf even is this chapter... ewwwww it's a mess... I'm tiiiiiiiiiired... Couldn't write this right lol... I'm sowwy... (Still 95% lighthearted, stupid chill. Still 5% angst, plot. Any typos you see are a result of my brain being mush)  
**

 **I appreciate the reviews! You guys are honestly all so sweet and I'm happy you are enjoying the story! Thank you for being the wonderful people that you are! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

"Maya, you okay?" Jade asked, setting down files on her desk with a concerned look on her face.

Maya rubbed her eyes under her glasses as she scrutinized the bouquet of assorted flowers the mail man had left on her desk to be delivered to Lucas.

"Late night."

Riley had been entertaining some guests the night before. Some snobby people who she had grown up and gone to school with. Maya couldn't stand them, but Riley had requested she please make an effort to try not to antagonize them. Honestly, Riley wasn't too much of a fan of them either, but they were good connections to have for the future, plus, as the daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews, she was expected to keep up appearances lest she be scolded. Riley's old school friends didn't particularly like Maya either and even though she had excused herself from the festivities early to try to sleep, they'd remained loud throughout the rest of the evening, keeping her from getting her much deserved rest.

"Did Mr. Friar have a lot of work for you to do?" Jade said apologetically, "Sorry, that was my fault. I didn't get my work done until well after the end of the work hour yesterday."

"No, it wasn't that. Work goes by fairly quickly." Maya sat up straighter, taking the files on her desk with a smile. "Stuff at home. That's all."

"Okay. That's a relief. Again though, I'm sorry if you had extra stuff to work on."

"It's no big deal. I promise."

Jade nodded with a smile as she headed back to her desk to work.

Maya lifted her glasses onto the top of her head so there wouldn't be a glare from the computer as she turned it on. She glanced at Lucas' closed office door, wondering if he was going to make an appearance anytime soon and grace her with his unfortunate presence. She'd gone through all the trouble of showing up on time for work and the asshole wasn't even available so she could rub it in his face that she, in fact, _could_ arrive on time. A week into the job and he still patronized her each evening by reminding her to be on time before she left, and she wanted that to stop, though she knew trust had to be built and until he got direct evidence that he could trust her to be on time, he wasn't going to stop.

Which was why she was so annoyed with his current MIAness. Though she knew exactly why. The high pitched feminine giggles she could hear behind the door were evidence enough. But what was interesting was the fact that no one seemed to mind, a clear sign that this happened way more often than was professional. It was _early_.

Did he absolutely have to do this? Who fucked this early in the day? Even looking past the fact that he was screwing someone, it just seemed so ridiculous to choose such an early time for that. How did one even get it up when they were barely awake?

Maya growled under her breath and rolled her eyes, flipping open the files she received and forcing herself to get to work and ignore her current irritated state.

She liked Lucas. She liked working with him. He never forced her to stay extra hours, always had his documents and files to be organized over the evening ready by the time she was packing up to leave, and he only asked her to handle the work he himself didn't have time to do, taking up most of his work on his own. Of all the bosses she'd had, he was the only one who did such, doing just as much work as his employees instead of leaving it to everyone else. When he wasn't being an asshole or bugging her, he was actually a pleasure to work with.

His personality notwithstanding, as a boss he was phenomenal, clearly beloved and respected by his workers. He cared about his employees and was very focused on work when he wanted to be. He produced quality work and ran his company efficiently, and its success in New York was a testament to that fact. Being his PA was fairly easy because he himself stayed organized the majority of the time so she wasn't debilitated by an outrageous amount of work to do on a day to day basis. Keeping up with what was going on with him was also pretty easy, mostly because disregarding his hookups, he kept a consistent schedule.

When he was professional, he was the boss of her dreams. Plus it was an added bonus that he was sexy as all get out.

But she also _hated_ him. Being his personal assistant rather than a secretary was a double edged sword. Sure, her pay was better. But being a PA meant being intimately acquainted with Lucas' whole life. And that meant even his very promiscuous lifestyle. Honestly, a disgusting misfortunate lifestyle that she hadn't seen the likes of since she'd worked under Gary.

At least Lucas had the decency to keep his door closed during his office trysts, but the fact that it was happening in the first place was absolutely abominable.

"Note to self: find some way to slowly end Lucas' womanizing."

As the thought crossed her mind Lucas' office door opened and a tall, long legged woman sauntered out looking fresh and satiated, walking briskly out of the office space as if she owned the place. Maya shook her head in disdain, checking Lucas' social calendar and wondering who this impromptu hookup could possibly be of the women on his list. This was the worst part of the job. Having to figure out who these new women were since it seemed he liked to pick up new, random ones every once in a while.

Shortly after, Lucas walked out with a smirk, a brow slightly quirked in amusement when Maya shot him her most disgusted, disparaging glare. Nothing was worse than having a boss who frequently used his office to have sex. Maya had had multiple of those. The worse being Gary Caldman of course.

"Did the flowers I ordered come in, Maya?" Lucas asked, coming around to the front of her desk.

She pointed to the edge of her desk, barely sparing him a glance and trying to ignore how amazing he smelled even from a distance.

"I hope you're not planning to give those to one of your playthings. They'll take it the wrong way."

"You don't have to worry about that." He picked up the flowers and curiously, she watched as he walked over to Yindra's desk and set the bouquet on it.

Yindra looked up at him in slight surprise, her expression a little confused.

"Sir?"

"Yindra, it's your birthday, is it not?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. Yeah it is." She smiled, letting out a little laugh. "How did you know? I started a month ago."

"What kind of boss would I be if I didn't know the simple things about my employees?" he said with a smile. "I hope you enjoy your birthday."

"Thank you, sir. I will."

Lucas nodded and made his way back over to Maya's desk. She quickly averted her gaze to her computer, trying to pretend that she hadn't been interested in what he was doing. She hoped he would leave her alone, but he came up to her desk and sat on the edge of it.

"Miss Hart. Were you on time this morning?"

She bristled, gritting her teeth in irritation. Gone was the kind Lucas she'd seen, instead replaced by the snide, vile dick that she absolutely could not stand.

"I'm surprised you actually know your employee's birthday and can take time out from between some woman's legs to wish it." She smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes in a fake show of innocence. "Oops, I'm sorry. I mean, good morning, Mr. Friar. Yes, I was punctual. Shut up about that already. It happened only twice."

"Good. But as much as I would love to indulge your sardonic banter, I'm a little busy today. Please do not transfer or direct any calls to my office."

"Busy doing what? Banging the newly employed people straight out of business school to break them into the work nice and easy?" Maya snarked, her lips curved up into a sneer.

"Lovely as ever, Miss Hart." He deadpanned, though his eyes were dancing in amusement. "I have a business proposal I have to prepare for the company board meeting this evening, so if you could keep disturbances to a minimum, that would be great. You do not need to be in attendance for this one, so you can go home at five if you would like."

"Anything else?" she asked boredly, logging into her email.

"One thing. There's a gala in Jersey on Saturday evening honouring Mark Poleski, an old business associate. He's retiring and leaving his company to his son, Alexander. You're going with me."

She'd heard the name Poleski come up at some point or another in time—she figured he was a bigwig in the business industry—but Lucas' last words were what made her freeze, her brow raising slowly as she stared at him.

"What? What do you mean going with you?"

"As my business date."

She cringed, remembering the few times she'd gone to such events as a business date for one of her bosses. They had been some of the most truly boring things she had ever attended. Nobody had been getting drunk and everyone was too stiff and fake and absolutely too scared to open their mouths and speak. She'd had to stay attached to her boss's side smiling until her teeth cracked and taking note of possible good business connections. She'd only been eye candy on their arms to be used as a method to make them seem more approachable.

The food _was_ hella good at least and expensive stuff that she couldn't afford even if she saved up for months, so she'd definitely enjoyed that. She'd even managed to befriend one of the servers at the event who snuck her a bottle of the expensive champagne.

But she didn't think being Lucas' date to it would make it any more enjoyable. In fact, she _knew_ she would absolutely hate it more than anything just because it was Lucas.

"Can't you find someone else to go with you?"

"I don't have time to find another date since it's too short notice. Also, this is mostly a business event to make and maintain connections, not a social event. Therefore you are to be in attendance with me."

Maya's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She didn't like the way he had just told her what she was supposed to do. Maybe if he had asked, she wouldn't be so difficult about it, but he hadn't. So she was going to be difficult.

"What if I had plans?"

And she did. Even if she wasn't exactly interested in those plans.

Lucas got off her desk, turning around and leaning down in front of her with a smirk until they were eye to eye. Maya refused to move, stubbornly holding his sea-foam gaze. She fought the urge to inhale deeply, though he smelled so fucking good.

"Cancel them. This is an order."

"I don't have to listen to you."

"No, you don't," he said calmly. "But I can make life living hell for you as my PA."

"Then I'll quit."

"Will you now?" He rose an amused brow. "You'd honestly quit when you need to pay for your mom's medication and that apartment you live in with your roommate? You've been fired several times too. I don't think your resume is looking too stable right now for future work."

Dammit. He'd won.

Maya glowered at him, irritated that he knew a bit about her too.

But he was right. There was no way she was going to quit. She couldn't afford it and there was no guarantee the agency would keep her after so many terminations already. And he knew he was right too because the smirk on his face grew the slightest bit.

"Your decision?" he asked lowly.

"Fine." She responded through grit teeth. "I'll go to the thingy with you."

"I'll pick you up at eight. Think business formal. Clean it up a bit. Your librarian look won't suffice. And if you're not dressed appropriately, we will be shopping to buy you new attire."

"Asshole."

" _Mr_. Asshole." He winked, straightening and walking back to his office.

Maya rolled her eyes but pulled out her phone, texting Riley that the double date thing set for Saturday couldn't happen. She was displeased about the gala, but honestly, at least she had an excuse to miss out on Riley's plans now. She hadn't wanted to meet this clown bozo Riley wanted to set her up with. Don't get her wrong. Having to spend the evening as Lucas' arm candy disgusted her too, but she would much rather spend it with her womanizing boss than with whatever preppy weenie Riley wanted her to possibly date.

But she wasn't happy with Lucas' clean up comment. Maya was in no way vain about the way she looked, but she knew even dressed inconspicuously, she wasn't some night troll (save for her hair every once in a while, but that was a different story). Sure she didn't look like the models he liked to sleep with, but Maya had her own appeal.

After Riley responded that it was fine and they could reschedule eventually, Maya stood up and headed to Lucas' office, more nonplussed by his comment than before. He was leaning back in his chair, nonchalantly scrutinizing a document in his hand when she walked in, seemingly not noticing that she was waiting for him to address her. The only reaction she got to her clearing her throat was the slightest quirk of an eyebrow, but other than that, he had no visible reaction to her announcing her presence, and above that, he ignored her completely.

"I can clean up nicely." Maya growled indignantly without lead in, walking into his office and approaching his desk. "I always look nice."

"Hmmm…" he muttered noncommittally, still mulling over the report and ignoring her despite the fact that she was right in front of his desk.

Maya's eyes narrowed. "I can."

"Of course, _darling_ ," he said dismissively, setting his paper on his desk and watching her with a challenging look in his eyes. "I'm sure with a lot of help you can clean up."

If he thought she would take his commentary sitting down, he had another think coming. She would show him.

"A lot of help?"

Maya pursed her lips in annoyance, walking around the desk, slowly trailing her fingers on the edge. Lucas' eyes followed her motions, and he turned to face her, a smirk on his lips and his eyes dancing as he waited patiently to see what she would decide to do now that there was no longer the desk between them.

"Mr. Friar… I've had copious opportunities to attend business galas. Trust me. I _know_ how to clean up."

"Do you now?" he muttered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I have a hard time believing that."

She knew he'd said it on purpose. The battle to see who would get riled up first had begun. The ball was in her court now.

Challenge accepted.

Maya reached up and tugged out her bun, letting her waves tumble out around her as she slowly shook them out. She let it fall around her recklessly, parts of it in her face, not caring to try to keep it in any semblance of order. Then she set her hands on the armrest of his chair, leaning in, her eyes half lidded and bottom lip pulled in between her teeth.

Dramatic and exaggerated? Yes.

But she knew it had worked when Lucas' smirk disappeared, all pretenses of amusement gone, his gaze darkening as he stared up at her silently.

"It's no different than popping open a few buttons and showing a little cleavage, right?" Maya said lowly, keeping her gaze locked on his as she brought her knee up and rested it on the chair between his legs. "I can look like a hooker at the gala if that's what you want? I've got the experience, after all. Since I'm a hooker and all."

"I expect you to be fully covered up." Lucas responded through grit teeth, his eyes narrowed.

"I see. So… my librarian look then?" Maya murmured, feeling emboldened and daring to reach out and grasp his tie. She was overstepping boundaries, she knew. But that was the point after all. "Make up your mind, Huckleberry."

" _Maya_ ," he growled in annoyance.

"Ooh. First name." Maya said playfully, if only to hide the fact that hearing him say her name had actually sounded like sex dripping from his lips. It had sent a flash of heat running down her back. "I take it you're not pleased?"

Lucas didn't respond, and they stared each other down, Lucas looking particularly vexed and Maya sneering at him. She thought it was pretty funny. There was something amusing about seeing Lucas speechless, looking a bit dazed from her behaviour. Sure, he'd probably read up on her and knew a bit about her, but he had no idea what she was _really_ capable of.

Riley had once called it Maya's repressed sensuality from having to make sure she was as drab and prudish as she could appear to prevent workplace gossip. It felt good to finally release it. Part of her wanted to let even more out. See how far she could push Lucas before he snapped.

And then Maya froze, her eyebrows lifting up the slightest bit in shock.

What the hell was wrong with her? What the hell was she doing trying to tempt Lucas when she absolutely wanted nothing to happen between them? Appalled with her own behaviour, she slowly let his tie fall from her grasp.

Lucas frowned in confusion, clearly wondering why she had stopped herself so suddenly.

"Uh… excuse me?"

They were interrupted by the arrival of a different voice and both snapped their gazes over to the doorway where Dave was standing there, awkwardly watching them with his cheeks tinged with a bit of red. Maya didn't think she could move away fast enough, but one second she was practically on Lucas' lap, and the next, she was at least two feet's distance away from him.

"Yes?" Lucas asked, looking completely unfazed as he straightened out his shirt.

"I was wondering if uh, Maya was in here. I uh… I guess she is."

Maya carefully gathered up her hair and put her bun back in place, keeping her gaze decidedly off of Lucas.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know the account files are on your desk," Dave said anxiously. "In case you needed to put them with the others. Sorry to bother you!"

Dave nearly ran out the door, and Maya had to fight the urge to facepalm. From her observations of the office floor, Dave wasn't one of the office gossips in particular, but she had a feeling that the rest of them would all find out about what had happened one way or another.

"He was acting like we were having sex or something…" Maya muttered under her breath.

Though she didn't particularly blame him when their position could very well have been misconstrued as something of the sort. Which Maya would never let happen again, of course. She didn't particularly care for professionalism, but she wasn't going to ever do anything remotely like what she had done earlier ever again.

"In any case, I trust your jurisdiction to dress _appropriately_ , Miss Hart."

"I know," she said, giving him a dirty look as she pinned up the baby hairs at the back of her head with her clip. She tried to pretend she wasn't disappointed by the fact that he'd gone back to her more formal moniker. "Not a hooker. Not a librarian."

"That'll work."

"Fine. Now if you'll excuse me."

Maya tugged her skirt down and walked briskly out of his office, feeling the weight of his gaze burning her, but deciding not to acknowledge it or even glance at him. No doubt he was trying to figure her out and figure out what the hell she had been thinking especially. But that was the thing. She _hadn't_ been thinking.

She'd acted out of control, but the worst part was that she wasn't even sure if her mind knew it had made those decisions. Some part of her knew it had been an involuntary reaction.

And the scariest part was she didn't dislike it.

* * *

Why was I flirting with Lucas? Because I was attracted to him. Because he was right there. Because he made it almost too easy. Because he had a hold on me for some inexplicable reason. But mostly because of one little thing I couldn't recognize at first:

Jealousy.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay fine. I caved. I updated a story because I got so much shit for school done this week without procrastinating and I was so excited to finally have some of the weekend to write Lucaya, but mind you this is the _only_ update until I finish responding to all the PMs you lovely kitty katz have sent me. I cut out about 2K words worth of description and went a little lax with details because this chapter got too long, so let me know if you feel like it's rushed, I can definitely eventually put some stuff back and slow it down.  
**

 **Thank you for your wonderful reviews! I appreciate the kind words and the support! I was feeling a little down in the dumps, but you guys always manage to brighten my days. Thank you. You're honestly the best :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

Lucas had lied.

When he had told Maya it was too short notice to find a business date for the gala, he had definitely lied. He had plenty of people who he could have invited to go with him—business or personal partners alike—and on top of that, he could have definitely gone by himself as he did on occasion, but he wanted Maya with him that night for reasons.

Aside from the fact that he wanted to see how she would clean up for the event, it was strategic having Maya as his date. He needed Maya's sharp tongue and unapologetic manner of addressing others who she didn't particularly care for. Lucas had no doubt there would be some competition to gain Alexander's trust and try to form an alliance between companies now that his father was stepping down. New CEO, new rules, new relationships. That was usually how the game went.

Lucas had a bit of an advantage. He'd been acquainted with Alexander before, a long time ago when their fathers had been discussing something. Lucas had been in high school at the time and Alexander, in junior high. He had been more occupied with trying to flirt with one of the older Poleski daughters, but their families were on good terms. It was expected as the sons of their fathers that they maintain good relations as well.

Still though, Lucas didn't consider himself "intimidating" in the general sense of the word compared to others (unless he decided to get a little violent, which was unacceptable in this kind of setting, of course). He was generally pretty lax, and he wasn't that interested in the whole alliance business. He wasn't planning on trying to "scare" away any competition that night. Which was where Maya came in.

Shocking them would require the more abrasive, sardonic, caustic touch of Maya Hart's spitfire tongue and wit. She was just the perfect person to alarm competition with her confident aggression, which would undeniably leave a big impression on any of the business folk.

Was there a possibility she would try to be on her best behaviour all night? Yes. Very much so.

But Lucas just knew that all Maya would need was a bit of prompting to lose that hot temper of hers and start spewing venom. Prompting that he was sure many of these men would easily deliver, seeing as how he had no doubt Maya would look stunning that night. All it would take was several men objectifying her with their stares or gazing at her tits and ass enough times, and she would lose patience entirely or rage. Either one was okay with Lucas. The more abrasive she was, the more likely she would knock the others off balance. Lucas felt bad for kind of using Maya in that way, but she had specific skills that would definitely come in handy this time around and he intended to use them to their full capacity. Even if he had to provoke her himself.

Lucas rang the doorbell of her apartment, waiting patiently for her to step out.

"Maya!" He heard from inside the apartment. "Your date is here. You better hurry up."

"Not my date." Came Maya's distinct drawl, steadily approaching the door. "It's my boss."

"But you're going on a date, aren't you?"

"No. It's a stupid business event with a bunch of annoying fucking frat boy business men who sleep around with a lot of women and spend their days hooking up in their offices instead of focusing on work as they should. Professionalism doesn't exist with their dumb asses."

"That so, huh?" Lucas muttered, chuckling to himself in amusement.

"Just get going Maya." The voice inside giggled.

The locks of the apartment door unlatched and it swung open. Maya walked out briskly and quickly pulled the door shut behind her.

"Huckleberry," she said in greeting.

And Lucas was speechless.

Maya hadn't been kidding about cleaning up nice.

Lucas had seen his fair share of beautiful women—he specialized in them he liked to say—but none of them held a candle to Maya Hart.

She had her hair loosely coiled, tumbling over one shoulder and framing her heart-shaped face. She was wearing a long sleeved burgundy gown clinging to her abundance of curves like a second skin, leaving so much but almost nothing to the imagination at the same time. It swirled around her legs gracefully and he caught a glimpse of the strappy silver heels she'd chosen for the occasion. Her ears and neck were adorned with sparkling diamonds.

"…You're wearing your glasses?" he asked almost absentmindedly, trying to ignore the fact that he had been hoping she wouldn't so he could have an unobstructed view of her striking stormy eyes.

Lucas knew that wasn't quite what he had wanted to say. But he wasn't exactly sure how coherent he was at the moment. There were really no words for how Maya Hart looked, and he felt like anything else he tried to say wouldn't come out the right way. She was dressed simply, not as extravagantly as most of these women would have preferred to dress for a gala, yet she made it look luxurious.

The corners of Maya's mouth slowly curved up in a devious smirk and Lucas' eyes were almost immediately drawn to her full, ruby red lips.

"Careful now, Huckleberry," she said playfully, her voice tinkling and gorgeous eyes glimmering. "We don't want to get people too excited at this party. If I don't have my glasses, I'll look like a hooker. And I certainly don't think all those people will be ready for that."

They really wouldn't be. He stared at her, wondering how it was that he saw her pretty much every day yet she always managed to surprise him no matter what she did.

Maya rose a brow, giving Lucas a weird look when he didn't say anything or even move.

"We should probably start heading out, don't you think?"

"Right…"

He gestured ahead of him down the hall, and Maya rolled her eyes as she walked past him, texting on her phone as they headed out. Lucas' eyes drifted down, his gaze glued to the swell of her ass in the dress. There were no words for what Maya Hart was doing to him with her allure seeping out everywhere and hooking him without remorse. It was almost a shame that she hid herself behind her librarian look because all that untapped beauty seemed wasted working as his PA. But then again, maybe it was a good thing that she didn't let just everybody see her this way. No doubt she'd have to deal with a never-ending stream of interested people hitting on her.

Maya was definitely going to turn heads tonight.

"I thought this thing started an hour ago," she commented as they left the building, heading down the sidewalk to Lucas' parked car.

"It did." Lucas replied, snapping out of his slight daze.

"So why are you late?"

"You're supposed to show up to these things fashionably late since the only really important parts are the toasts and the speeches."

Lucas didn't know why he felt so tongue tied and clumsy and awkward, as if he was in junior high again. He supposed it had to do a lot to do with the fact that Maya was _glowing_ , looking surreal under the light of the streetlamp, completely different than how he had ever seen her before. And it suited her so well. He felt so out of control, his thoughts all over the place and refusing to settle every time his eyes went back to her form. Maya Hart was a beautiful anomaly.

Maya glanced over her shoulder and frowned at him, a brow raised in confusion.

"What's up with you? Where are the hooker comments? I was expecting a ton of those. I even have great responses prepared."

"There's no need."

Not when she was looking like a perfect, seductive mix of elegance and temptress all at once. God, his mind was so far in the gutter, there was no chance he could possibly get himself out. All he was seeing was Maya on his lap, face flushed, hair obscuring parts of her face, dishevelled dress bunched up on her hips, her breathing laboured as she—

Lucas cleared his throat and broke eye contact, opening the passenger door of his car and hoping she couldn't tell what was going through his head right now. He had no doubt she would wedge her heel into his leg's bone and then _break_ his member.

"Oh." She stared at him, a slight frown on her face as if she was trying to figure out what was going on in his head. He was quite sure that it would be better if she didn't know. "Well thank you for not making hooker comments then."

She gracefully got into the car and after he made sure she was settled, he shut the door and headed to his own side.

"No driver?" Maya asked as he got in. "Wasn't expecting that for a hotshot business man."

"I'm not into unnecessarily flashy shows of wealth. Why hire a driver when I'm perfectly capable of driving myself? In any case, I only use a driver if I know I will be drinking at a work function."

She nodded in understanding, crossing her legs and falling silent as he started his car. The classical music he'd been playing on the way to her apartment filled the air. Maya rose a brow and stared at him.

"Liszt? I half expected you to be playing bluegrass."

"It's calming. And I figured neutral music territory would be better than playing country." Lucas stated, turning onto another street and merging with traffic so they could head on their way.

"Why do you think classical music is neutral territory for us?"

"You did a series of pieces interpreting Rachmaninov's Trio Élégiaque no 2 in d minor. I put two and two together and figured you enjoy classical music. Looks like I guessed right."

Maya blinked in slight surprise, looking a little taken aback.

"…You've seen my art?"

"Of course. I have to know my assistant as much as she knows me. Why would I let you work under me without making sure you were a trustworthy or good employee? A background check is a must. I just happened to come across a lot of your work in that check."

She nodded, looking down at her phone to respond to a text. From the agitated and brisk way she was texting, he figured the person was bugging her about something. They drove in silence for a while, Lucas trying to keep his mind occupied by making sure they got to Jersey safely instead of on Maya's provocative scent, assaulting his nose every few seconds. He tried to focus on not letting his thoughts go haywire with Maya in such close proximity.

"…So what did you think?" Maya asked a bit quietly.

He glanced at her briefly. "About?"

"Those pieces."

"You have real talent." Lucas couldn't help the smile that came to his lips when Maya's gaze snapped to him in surprise. "You managed to invoke the pain and sense of despair lingering throughout the music in such a profound way that I've never seen before. You deserve every award and all the praise you received for it."

"You liked it?"

"It was magnificent. You're a great artist, Maya." he replied honestly.

Maya didn't respond and turned her head, looking out the window and bunching up the fabric of her dress on her lap. Lucas had seen her blush out of the corner of his eye before she could hide her face though. He chuckled to himself and they continued on their way in relative silence, Maya staring out the window at the Hudson River as they drove across George Washington Bridge.

He wondered if Maya had ever left the city before and this was her first experience outside of New York. Then again, she wasn't brand new to the world of business so no doubt she'd done a lot of travelling. But she was looking pretty excited. He could see her widening smile in the window's reflection. He wondered if this was her favourite part of being involved with the business world. The travelling perks of working under such individuals.

Lucas occupied the drive by running through his presentation for the board on Thursday, going through every fine detail. It was honestly the only thing he could think of to keep his mind off of the vixen in the seat beside him. Maya was taking pictures of the views of the night life of the city, and he wondered if she was planning to use them as inspiration for a painting.

Thankfully, traffic wasn't bad, and it didn't take too long to get to their destination. When they turned into the expansive driveway of Mark Poleski's enormous Alpine mansion, Maya gasped softly.

"Holy shit… This place is bigger than Rhode Island," she muttered.

Lucas chuckled as he drove up the driveway and around the shimmering fountain to where there was a valet waiting at the front. He didn't blame her for being so impressed. It was a particularly impressive house, a fantastic, grand mansion made of gray stone. He'd been there a couple times in his youth in the past, but it never ceased to leave a lasting impression each time he saw it.

"The interior is even more amazing," Lucas said.

"Yeah, I bet."

They stepped out of the car as a valet came around to park it. Lucas walked around to where Maya was standing in front of the open door of the mansion, brows high on her forehead and mouth a bit slack. There was music from an orchestra drifting out from further in and a red carpet rolled out.

"Have you ever been to a gala this extravagant?" Lucas asked, wondering if maybe she hadn't judging by her entirely flabbergasted expression.

"Not like this. Most of the ones I've gone to were smaller." She removed her phone from her silver clutch and snapped a quick picture of the house before setting her phone back inside. "And definitely not in any huge mansions. Are we really in New Jersey?"

Lucas smiled. "Absolutely."

They headed inside, Maya looking around at the spacious interior of the mansion with wide eyes as she walked close to Lucas' side.

"This is crazy…" Maya muttered to herself. "I bet this is the kind of place that has seat warmers on the toilets and those things that clean out your arsehole."

"You should probably stay away from toilet commentary tonight," Lucas said with a raised eyebrow. "But also, regarding tonight—"

"I know, I know. Be on my best behaviour so as not to embarrass you with my poor person habits, right?" Maya rolled her eyes, sounding bitter and annoyed, as if she'd received comments like those multiple times in the past. "I know the drill, Ranger Rick. You don't have to tell me."

"Quite the contrary, Miss Hart. I was going to tell you to enjoy yourself."

She eyed him, giving him a weird look. "What?"

"You seem a little stiff," Lucas said as they entered the main ballroom which had been ornately decorated, chandeliers lit and casting an ethereal hue on the gathering.

There was a chamber quartet playing music in a corner, waiters walking around everywhere with small appetizers and glasses of champagne. The room was full of people dressed as pretentiously as they could, flashing their expensive jewellery and wearing the most costly things they owned to flaunt and compete with each other over their respective wealth. As far as the gala went, it wasn't really anything too different than what Lucas had been used to growing up in his mother's home.

And as Lucas suspected, some conversations ceased, eyes following Maya as he walked in with her. Some women were staring at her, intrigue in their expressions, no doubt wondering who the mysterious new comer was to the gala. He could see some other business associates also gaping, their own dates long forgotten. Maya was gawking at the spread on one side of the room, nearly looking like she was drooling, not noticing all the interested looks she was getting. It actually brought a smile to Lucas' lips. He was amused just how oblivious she was to all the people's eyes on her. He touched her elbow gently, guiding her slowly through the room as he looked around.

"Of course I'm stiff. Last time I went to one of these parties," Maya finally said after taking in all the room had to offer, "I accidentally broke a glass and ruined the dress of the host's daughter."

Lucas frowned. "That sounds oddly familiar. I recall an event once where someone had her dress torn by an attendee. Matilda Hinkle?"

"Yeah. Took a chunk out of my paycheck to pay for the damn damages to that dress." Maya glanced up at him. "Were you there?"

"Most likely for a short time."

Though he was certain he'd probably left early with one of the women. He didn't remember most of that evening because he'd been wasted off of his ass.

"She hates me now though so my old boss brought other dates for the rest of my tenure as his assistant. I wonder if she'll be here… That would be so awkward."

Lucas chuckled. "Well, if it's any consolation, you haven't missed all that much. It's all a bunch of fakes and people up and coming in the business world looking to kiss established people's asses. No one is getting drunk either because there's no way to get drunk off of this bullshit champagne and wine. All the good stuff is hidden so you can do nothing but suck it up and get through the obligatory two hours before you can leave with someone."

Maya's brows rose. "Wait, so you hate these things too?"

"Who doesn't? This is just to keep up appearances. And you have to be on your best behaviour too. I came to one of these things with my father back when I was in college once. I snuck beers, got wasted off my ass, threw up in a vase and scored in one of the bathrooms with the daughter of one of my father's colleagues. My father never brought me to another one again."

Maya laughed and then quickly clammed up, folding her lips in and trying to pretend like she hadn't just laughed, her nose scrunched up in annoyance.

A waiter walked by with trays of champagne, his gaze stuck on Maya, a slight awestruck look on his face.

"Champagne?" he asked.

"I'm good thank you." Lucas said. "Maya?"

"Do people even like this stuff? It's all so ridiculous." She shook her head. "You're right that you can't get drunk off of it. So why do they keep drinking it?"

"It's classy. And at least it's better than nothing. You're going to need it if you want to get through this evening."

"Do you really think me and alcohol is a good mix?"

He knew it couldn't be. Not with her size. Which was what he was hoping for to be honest.

"Not in the least." Lucas shrugged. "But if you don't enjoy yourself, what's the point of coming to a party?"

"In that case, okay."

She took one of the glasses, smiling at the waiter who blushed as he walked away. She tipped it back and drank it in nearly one swig. She was about to put the glass back on the tray of another waiter, but Lucas stayed her hand.

"Hold on. You'll need that."

Maya gave him a look. "What?"

Lucas reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask, waving it discreetly in the air.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah. It'll help you loosen up a bit. If you put it in the champagne glasses, no one suspects what's inside. Life hack."

Maya snorted. "Seriously?"

"Why else do you think these champagne glasses are always full when no one is grabbing a new one?"

"Huh," Maya said contemplatively. "That makes a lot more sense than it should. What's in that?"

"It's whiskey."

"So let me get this straight. You're willing to let me drink hard liquor at this party. Hard liquor knowing full well that being the type of person that I am, if I get tipsy, someone is probably going to get their ass handed to them. And that someone will most likely be you," she said suspiciously. "I don't buy it. What's the catch?"

"There is no catch." Lucas lied.

Except that he wanted her irate and ready to chew people's heads off.

"I don't believe that for a second." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you trying to get me drunk so my inhibitions go away? Because I swear if you are—"

"I promise I'm not trying to take advantage of you. Consider this an impromptu gift from your boss for your hard work."

Maya watched him for a few seconds, looking a bit suspicious. Lucas waited patiently, watching her cycle back and forth from suspicion to slight confusion before she finally sighed in surrender.

"Fine. But only because I hate these stupid things and whiskey is my favourite." She lifted up her glass and Lucas discreetly poured some in it. "This is crazy. I can't believe my boss is actually letting me drink at a work function. Hell, I can't believe my boss actually brought _alcohol_ to a work function."

"We're all human." Lucas put the flask back into his jacket. "I shouldn't be held to a higher standard of behaviour."

She gave him an incredulous look after sipping some of it.

"Yes you should. You're a boss."

"I'm Lucas first and foremost," he corrected.

Maya stared at him, shaking her head as if she was having a hard time believing what he was saying or believing he was acting the way he was. She looked around them, a slight frown on her face.

"So who are all these people? I don't recognize any of them. Are they all really prominent businesswomen and men?"

"Not all of them." Lucas inclined his head towards one of the men. "That man for example. Absolutely terrible business man. Not a clever bone in his body. He thinks he's hot shit. A stooge."

Maya snorted, taking another swig of her glass.

"And her. The attractive one who's walking this way." Lucas gestured to an older woman. "She's not a businesswoman."

"Let me guess?" Maya snarked. "You fucked her. She's a little old for you, don't you think?"

"I have some standards," Lucas said with a smug smirk. "But I did sleep with her daughter. We briefly had a fling and then her daughter wanted to get married."

"So you dumped her." Maya deadpanned.

"Her mother hates my guts now. Watch. She'll give us a dirty look as she passes."

And sure enough, Mrs. Lancaster did, her lips curled in disgust as she glared at them.

Maya laughed. "Do you know everybody here?"

"Pretty much. We're all a very incestuous family of competitive corporate individuals. We've all had alliances with each other or become enemies at some point or another. We've even got _fascinating_ cliques." Lucas gestured to a group of old men. "Those are the Godfathers. The oldest, wisest, you-don't-fuck-with-them-because-they-will-drive-your-company-to-ruin men. They've been around forever and know all the tricks of the trade. My father was on the path to being inducted into that group. Well, before he disappeared."

"Those women?" Lucas said, and Maya turned her attention to the glamourous women all dressed to the nines, shimmering with their expensive jewellery and outfits. They just exuded radiance and regality in their stature. "The wives and girlfriends. They gossip about the situations going on between companies and brag about their own successes. Anyone not of their socioeconomic class will be snubbed."

"Interesting." Maya said, smiling gratefully when Lucas poured more whiskey in her glass.

"Lucas." A man waved as he passed by.

Lucas nodded in greeting.

"Who was that?" Maya asked curiously.

"I think his name is Roger Danning. Up and coming in business. He's managed to penetrate the inner circle by rising up the ranks to an executive of Poleski's company, but he isn't established yet. No roots in business to fall back on so he's starting from scratch. We call those people first generation businessmen."

"Ah. I get it. A kiss ass." Maya deduced, finishing off the rest of the whiskey in her glass.

"You catch on quick."

"This is like a damn high school."

"Well that's not a lie. High school never really ends, after all." Lucas smirked, pouring more for her when she held her glass out to him.

"So what clique are you in, Huckleberry?"

"Something like frat boys," Lucas said with a wink. "We frat boy business men sleep around with a lot of women and spend our days hooking up in our offices instead of focusing on work as we should. Professionalism doesn't exist with our dumb asses."

Maya's eyes widened and she blushed a bit at his reutterance of what she had said about them.

"You heard that?"

"Loud and clear, Miss Hart."

"Well I'm not going to apologize," she muttered behind the rim of her glass. "It's true, you know."

"I didn't expect you to. And I didn't deny it."

As Sandra Monroe walked by on her way across the room, she caught Lucas' eye and gave him a dirty look.

"…So are a lot of women here going to be giving you dirty looks or is this just a coincidence?" Maya questioned.

"I get at least twenty dirty looks per event." Lucas confirmed.

"Let me guess…" Maya rolled her eyes. "You fucked her?"

"Her sister. Carmen Monroe. Although her distaste is because I rejected her in favour of her sister."

"You're disgusting, you know that? What is it with you and frequent womanizing? You know your company could be even more successful if you just let go of that lifestyle. Your behaviour detracts from your charm."

Lucas smirked. "You think I'm charming?"

"Did you not pay attention to what I just said?" Maya snapped. "I said you're disgusting. Keep up, you dumbass."

Lucas' smirk grew. Maya was already starting to grow a bit aggressive. She had clearly loosened up quite a bit from when they first got there. And conversing with her had distracted her from recognizing some of his plan.

"Is that any way to speak to your boss?" he asked jokingly.

"You're barely acting like a boss. Why should I be expected to keep up the boss/employee standard when you don't care enough to act like that?"

Perfect.

Lucas looked around, his eyes skimming over the attendees of the gala until they landed on Mark Poleski, speaking with a handful of other individuals.

"Good point." Lucas took her elbow again and led her in that direction, much to her confusion.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Where else? To the host. We need to pay our respects."

"Wait, so soon? Aren't you supposed to wait it out? I thought you were supposed to bide your time a bit. That's what some of my old bosses used to do."

"Because they were too focused on their appearances and painting themselves in the best light."

"You really don't care?"

"Not at all. If you spend your whole life worrying about how other people perceive you, how can you even enjoy it?"

"That explains why you're an unapologetic asshole sometimes."

Lucas shrugged. "People like to tiptoe around others. I much prefer direct confrontation. It's off putting to some, but then, I didn't get to become a successful—"

"Ruthless."

"—business man from beating around the bush and acting like a scared little shit. Attack directly and always go for the jugular. Take charge of your own destiny. It's a dog eat dog world and if you want to be alpha, you have to strike hard and fast."

"That's a pretty interesting philosophy for life. I bet a lot of people don't like you."

"I was raised to be an upperclass gentleman. The way I grew up was stifling. Suffocating. I don't give a damn about how off putting my attitude towards life is. I'm living life the way I want." Lucas gave her a look. "It's actually better to have someone come out and be straightforward about what they want. I respect that in a person. Go getters and those who charge ahead."

One of the reasons why he'd decided to keep Maya as his PA, despite how unrefined and chaotic she behaved most of the time. She didn't tread lightly in anything she did. It was go hard or go home for her, and he honestly respected that kind of work ethic in his company. It was what made them such compatible work partners as well. He could rely on her and from the moment she'd walked into his office, he hadn't felt like he had to walk her through anything or explain anything. He never felt like he had to work extra hard because she couldn't keep up. And he knew that whatever he may not finish up, Maya could handle it efficiently and in perfect quality. She just got him right off the bat. A truly perfect PA.

"…You know, you're oddly refreshing." Maya commented. "Even though you're such an ass."

"Thank you, Miss Hart."

As they approached the small circle of men around Mark Poleski, Maya stiffened the slightest bit. Lucas scanned the circle and noticed Gary Caldman was standing there, watching them as they walked up. No doubt Maya was feeling uncomfortable in his presence. He didn't blame her, especially with the way Gary was eyeing Maya, his gaze almost completely trained on her body, a slight gleam in his eyes as if he was looking for his next conquest. Maya fidgeted uneasily before her face settled in an irritated frown.

"Mr. Poleski. The man of the hour." Lucas greeted.

"Lucas." Mark said with a smile, lifting his glass up a bit in greeting. "It's good to see you."

"It's been a while. Congratulations on your retirement. You've built a great legacy for your son."

"Thank you, Lucas. I hope that when I am done advising him, he will be able to stand on his own two feet and continue all the work I've started," Mark stated. "So how is your mother?"

"Still in Munich searching for my father."

"I'm sorry he still eludes you all. It's been almost five years. You would think he would want to come back by now."

Lucas chuckled, subtly placing his hand on Maya's lower back when Gary kept trying to catch her eye. It was a particularly possessive move, he knew, and one that he didn't doubt Maya would object under any other circumstances, but she almost seemed glad for it, in a way. She leaned a bit back into his hand, and he saw her shoulders relax. Maybe she was honestly glad that he had noticed Gary's behaviour.

"Well, you know my father. Stubborn and crafty. The more my mom tries to find him, the more he runs."

"I've noticed." Mark laughed.

"Where is Alex? I didn't seem to notice him in the room."

"He walked out somewhere a long time ago hoping to get some air." Mark waved his hand dismissively. "Who knows what is going through the head of that son of mine. So who is this lovely young lady beside you?"

"This is Maya Hart, my personal assistant. Maya, this is Mark Poleski, Jacob Winters, Angelo Ferris, and you know Gary."

"Nice to meet you," Mark replied. "You are absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you." Maya answered, finishing off the rest of the whiskey in her glass.

Lucas could tell Maya wasn't totally comfortable with everyone's gazes lingering on her. From the moment they'd stepped in the circle, save for Mark, their eyes hadn't left Maya once.

"You never wore anything like that when you used to work for me, Maya," Gary remarked. "Where was all this when I was your boss?"

"She used to be your PA?" Angelo questioned. "Why did you let her go?"

"We had some… _difficulties_ with cooperation."

Gary's eyes were glued to Maya, and Lucas felt an urge to move and step in front of Maya and shield her from his view. When he took a quick glance at her though, her face was set in a bored look, though her jaw was clenched.

"Why would I ever wear anything like this to work when it's a complete inconvenience, Gary?" Maya said dismissively. "Did you lose brain cells since the last time I saw you?"

Lucas snorted under his breath, and Gary glowered at her. There were some raised brows, but Maya seemed particularly uncaring, as if the whole thing didn't matter to her. Lucas could feel one of Maya's rants and a trainwreck coming on, and he was rather looking forward to it.

"You're a real beauty." Angelo commented. "If you weren't so short, I'm sure you would definitely be a model."

Maya's eyebrow twitched, her face looking a little pinched as if she wanted to scowl but was forcing her expression to remain neutral. Lucas could just feel the waves of irritation riding off of her and drifting around them. She was clearly displeased.

"You really are absolutely stunning though." Jacob chuckled with a charming smile. "You sure know how to pick them, Lucas."

"I'm sorry, but is this not supposed to be a celebration for Mr. Poleski and his achievements in the business field? His innovation and drive? His creativity?" Maya suddenly said. "Yet all any of you can focus on is an inconsequential PA just for wearing _clothes_. You're acting like you've never seen a woman dress up before. In addition, I was employed under Mr. Friar through my agency as a personal assistant, Mr. Winters. _Just_ a personal assistant. Not whatever you seem to be implying with your tone."

They were speechless, staring at her, stunned by her response. Lucas felt like laughing out loud. Maya was an absolute piece of work.

"Well when a beautiful woman such as yourself attends an event, it's hard not to notice." Angelo pointed out. "Forgive us for being entranced."

"While I appreciate that comment, _sir_ , I would much rather be acknowledged for my achievements and work ethic than for a dress that I pull out of my closet about thrice a year." Maya retorted sharply, clearly not charmed at all by the compliments.

Maya was unlike any woman Lucas had ever met before. Unfazed by compliments, unconcerned by the discomfort she was making the others feel, unapologetic with her caustic rebuttals. Remarkable.

"Then maybe you should choose better attire when attending such an event." Gary said arrogantly, nonchalantly taking a sip of his own drink. "Cover up more."

Lucas knew Gary was just trying to get a rise out of Maya and rile her up. He could feel something in Maya had snapped, and the smile on his lips grew when Maya nearly slammed her champagne glass onto a passing waiter's tray. Lucas watched the carnage unfold as Maya's eyes narrowed, the glint in them absolutely furious.

"Well maybe _you_ should keep your wandering eyes to yourself before they get stabbed by my damn heel." She growled. "Good evening, gentlemen. I think I've been surrounded by your loathsome presences long enough. Congratulations on your retirement, Mr. Poleski."

There was a shocked silence in the circle as Maya spun on her heel and stormed away angrily, her fists clenched by her side. Lucas for his part was laughing to himself, pleased by the turn of events. He had been hoping for a little bit of Maya's spitfire attitude, but she'd gone above and beyond what he had expected.

"That's quite the PA you've got, Lucas…" Jacob said, looking pretty uncomfortable after the silence had been drawn out for quite a while. "She's got quite the mouth on her."

"Terrible, isn't she?" Gary snarled. "Gave me so much trouble when she was my personal assistant. And her disobedience and defiant attitude when given orders makes me wonder how she's even managed to keep jobs this long."

"Quite the contrary." Mark stated nonchalantly. "I found her amusing. A rare gem in the business world with her attitude. You've got yourself a good PA, Lucas. Hold on to her. It's hard to find good ones these days."

Bingo.

"She is something…" Lucas muttered, turning around momentarily and watching Maya. "Well. Gentlemen, it was nice to see you all again. If you'll excuse me."

Lucas walked away from the group, a near grin on his face as he headed over to where Maya was seething, her arms crossed petulantly in front of her chest and a treacherous scowl on her face. When she saw him approach, her brows loosened, her expression a bit apologetic.

"That was an interesting exchange," Lucas said, wanting so badly to wrap his arm around her in a hug because he was ecstatic.

"Shit. I'm sorry. I know I was super disrespectful. I didn't mean to get you in—"

"You were perfect. I'm proud of you."

Maya blinked up at him wide eyed in confusion.

"Wh-what?" Her cheeks turned a little pink at his admittance.

"I needed to make a memorable enough impression in front of everyone. Good or bad didn't matter. And you succeeded in doing just that. A PA is a reflection of a boss. Your brutal honesty will probably be our label from now on."

"Is that a good idea? I think I went too far," Maya said in concern. "Your reputation—"

"I already told you I'm unconcerned with that. Besides…" Lucas caught Gary's eye from a slight distance. He was staring at the two of them with narrowed eyes, looking particularly annoyed. Lucas smirked, leaning down closer to Maya and speaking low. "I'm damn good at what I do. A tipsy, mouthy little PA won't be the reason why my company could fail. Trust me."

"Tipsy no thanks to you!" Maya glared up at him. "Did you try to get me drunk on purpose so I would act up and get mad more easily and sass people? Is this what you invited me as your date for?"

"Perhaps."

Maya stared up at him, the corners of her lips tugging up into a small smile despite her efforts to keep it at bay. Lucas was entranced by her mouth, though he forced his gaze to stay on her marvelous eyes and away from her plump lips.

"You're brilliant."

Lucas paused, momentarily caught off guard by her words and wondering if she had actually uttered them. He hadn't expected such blatant appraisal from Maya. He had half expected her to say something more along the lines of her absolute distaste or disgust for him.

"I could have sworn that was a compliment. Is Maya Hart sick?" Lucas asked playfully.

"No. I'm genuinely impressed by your thought process." Maya stated matter of factly. "Don't expect me to ever say anything like that again though. You're still a Huckleberry, sir. And I still don't like you."

She pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Anyway, I think I need a little bit of air," she said to Lucas. "Being in this environment around all these one-track minded idiots is suffocating me. Do you mind if I step out for a bit? I don't really want to converse with any of your family of corporate numbnuts either if the only thing they'll be paying attention to are my tits or ass."

"They're not all bad. You just met a couple of the worst ones."

"I know." Maya shrugged. "I just kind of need a small break. This isn't really my scene, and there's only so much I can take before it gets to be too much. And I'm sure you don't want your PA getting arrested tonight."

Lucas chuckled. "That's fine. You've earned it with your performance tonight. People will be spreading the news that Lucas Friar's new PA is particularly combative and hostile."

Maya's brow cocked in amusement. She looked a little awed, searching his eyes like she was still having trouble believing the words coming out of his mouth.

"I still can't believe you _wanted_ me to snap at people. What the hell kind of boss are you?"

"The kind who recognizes his employee's greatest strength and uses it to his advantage. You have a lot of potential, and I think it's about high time I utilized it."

"…Right." Maya smiled slightly, looking a little sheepish for a moment. "Well, I'll be back."

Maya turned and walked away briskly. Lucas could see Gary approaching from a distance out of his peripheral vision. He didn't blame her for not wanting to stick around for whatever conversation he would try to start up next, though he didn't doubt that she would have no qualms putting him in his place once again.

Lucas felt himself smile as Maya glanced at him briefly in slight confusion over her shoulder as she left the ballroom.

"…A real piece of work."

* * *

I was man enough to admit that I was lusting after her in that dress like some horny little school boy getting his first boner. Or maybe I was feeling like the lucky shy guy who got to take Miss Prom Queen on a date. But I couldn't help it. Maya didn't seem to notice, but she was the Cinderella of this gala. Absolutely charming, gorgeous, sexy, elegant, a splash of colour in the mundanity of the gray corporate world. Everyone's eyes were on her. Yet she was _my_ date.

I felt like I'd won the lottery.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Many of you predicted/anticipated this lol, but not quite the way it is? Lol you'll see. Also, I pulled out about 3K words in this chapter to get it out for you guys sooner. Maybe sometime in the future I'll put those extra words back. If there's something in the narrative that seems like a hole was left, let me know.  
**

 **Hi Cristi! My update order generally follows the trend of whichever story I have that hasn't been updated in the longest time. But I usually add bits and pieces to different stories at different times, or if I'm particularly feeling a certain story at some point, I tend to work on it faster, especially if there's some part I'm really dying to write.  
**

 **Hi Guest! I don't really write things in the actual GMW show setting because it's a little hard to since I love imagining the characters in situations outside of what the show gives us. It's kind of a 'I wonder what would happen if the characters were...' feeling I get every time I watch an episode, so then I write AUs from the ideas I get. I also really like twisting characters to near OOCness to see if it works. It's fun! But if you have a specific request for a oneshot or something in GMW verse, I can give it a whirl, love.**

 **Thank you for the kind reviews! I appreciate the support and thank you for your patience! It's been a rough week, but it feels good to finally get back to writing :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

Maya grabbed a bottle of Champagne from a table with refreshments and stuffed it in her purse. Then she grabbed a glass from a passing waiter's tray as she made her way out of the ballroom, walking aimlessly around the ground floor and staring at all the paintings adorning the wall, lost in her thoughts and still reeling over Lucas' behaviour that night.

It wasn't like she had expected Lucas to be a stickler during the party. In fact, Maya had expected him to find someone to sleep with about five minutes in and ditch her, but he had been surprisingly chill the whole time. Honestly, she supposed a lot of her surprise came from the fact that she didn't really _know_ her boss other than what she'd read about him and his womanizing. So coming to learn about his ideals and morals was an odd shock to her.

But above that, she was especially surprised by how much he seemed to be partial to her poison tongue. He actually _liked_ it. The poison tongue that had lost her many a job in the past. Her other bosses and even the agency had called it a "weakness" of hers and a detriment, but Lucas saw it as a strength. It had made her heart skip a beat in her chest when he'd said as much. Her attitude turned off a lot of people and she couldn't even begin to count how it had ruined so many relationships and opportunities for her because she just couldn't filter out the venom she wanted to spew when she was mad.

But Lucas liked it for some reason. Of all people, she wouldn't have expected her boss to. And knowing that he wasn't particularly negatively affected by it and that she didn't have to censor herself around him was totally liberating.

She was annoyed though. She'd purposely worn her best dress in hopes to get a rise out of him or make him tongue tied after all of his damn annoying hooker comments regarding her looks. Riley had even let her borrow her expensive full carat diamond earrings for the occasion to try to throw Lucas off balance. Riley wouldn't leave her alone though, continuously texting her and asking her to give her details about every little thing, especially eligible bachelors at the gala. (Maya figured Riley's date was a total bore if she was more interested in Maya's shindig). Of course, Maya had nothing to say on that. She didn't have a very good first impression of any of these men. To her, at the moment, the most eligible bachelor was L—

She quickly changed her train of thought, shaking her head and making her way back to the ballroom since she'd gone quite far into the mansion.

Maya had been hoping she could get Lucas a little speechless, but he was a master at hiding his emotions, and she hadn't been able to read anything off of him. But he _had_ run his gaze down her entire figure, so she knew he liked what he had seen. Not to mention not taking his hand off of her once, though she wondered if he'd done so because Gary was there. Not that she was complaining. It was surprisingly comforting in a room full of business professionals she didn't know, though she had seen Zay flirting with one of the model looking women near the wall.

She'd passed by a couple of her old bosses too, but clearly they didn't remember her and one had ignored her completely when she'd greeted him. _Asshole_. She'd spent months buying his damn haemorrhoid cream.

But she knew she'd needed to get some air because Lucas' scent was making it hard to think. He smelled unbelievably good and dressed in his tuxedo with his hair combed and looking like the exact kind of guy she would definitely have a one night stand with made her wonder if she was losing her mind. Especially when he touched her back and goosebumps had erupted on her skin. It hadn't taken her mind long to conjure up a thought of what his hands could feel like trailing across her naked skin.

Maya looked around the hallway, wondering if she'd already been down this way before. It suddenly looked unfamiliar but she was certain she'd passed the painting on her right when she'd first walked through. Or had she?

"Shit… Am I lost?"

She must not have been paying attention to her surroundings while lost in thought. Maya sighed in exasperation and continued quickly on her way down the hallway, hoping that maybe if she walked in a general direction, she'd find her way back to the ballroom of the gala.

As she rushed around a corner, Maya suddenly saw a black suit in front of her and ran right into the person, accidentally tipping her champagne. It spilled all over the front of their dress shirt and got parts of their suit.

"Shit. I'm sorry." Maya groaned. This mistake was going to take chunks out of her paycheck again. "I don't have to pay for that, do I? I have connections to a dry cleaner. I can get that cleaned for free."

Maya looked up in apology and was briefly taken aback by the striking azure eyes of the guy as he stared at her. Was the business world made up of super hot guys or something? He was gorgeous. Even more gorgeous than her. She half expected him to get angry, but he glanced down at his shirt, a look of amusement on his face as he held it away from his body.

"It's okay." He chuckled, running a hand through his dark hair. "I can change."

"You brought a change of clothes to a party? What, did you anticipate someone would fuck up your shirt?"

"No." He laughed jovially. Maya had to admit his smile was pretty cute. "I live here."

"Oh…" It suddenly all made sense. "You're Alexander Poleski."

He nodded. "So the beautiful lady really didn't know who I was."

"I'm not really of this world or in the know. I'm just a PA. One who probably shouldn't have been wandering around for that matter…"

"Well, you're refreshing. It's always the same damn faces around here. It's good to see someone new. What's your name?"

"Maya Hart. I work for Lucas Friar."

"Ah Lucas," Alexander said, a look of starry eyed admiration on his face. "Around here, they call him _The Prodigy_. From vet school straight into running a company. He's incredible. And he's one of the most attractive men I've ever seen. Working as his PA must be the best job ever."

"Yeah, well, he is good at his job. And he's a very reliable boss. …An alliance with him will surely breed success."

Alexander's brows furrowed in confusion at her words. "Wait. Alliance? Are you trying to sell your boss to me?"

"You're surprised, Alexander? Your father is retiring and you're running the company now. And I want my boss' company to succeed. Of course I have a hidden agenda. Keep up."

He blinked in surprise, staring down at her like he hadn't expected that kind of response from her.

"Wow. Everyone has been trying to suck up to me all evening and then they denied it when I called them out on it. Except you."

Maya shrugged. "Why deny the truth? We all are out here at this party to get ahead and win your favour. Otherwise we wouldn't even be here in the first place."

"I like you." He smiled. "Call me Alex."

"Okay, Alex. If you don't mind, I'm kind of lost, and I'm not sure how to get back to the ballroom? You think you could take me back?"

"Of course. Let me just change my clothes really quickly. My room is right around here. You're welcome to come in." He turned to start leaving, then glanced at Maya over his shoulder. "I'm not going to do anything to you. But I do have some alcohol in my room if you want it. You seem like a drinker."

"How could you tell?"

"No offence, but you kind of seem tipsy…"

It wasn't a lie.

She followed him further through the hallway to a room she had passed when she'd been trying to find her way back. They entered the room and she froze, staring around at the lavish, grand bedroom with shiny oak floors and furniture probably worth more than her paycheck. Floor to ceiling seemed to sparkle and it was decorated with outstanding artwork and heirlooms that probably were worth a fortune.

"This is how you grew up?!" Maya gasped, running her finger across the frame of one of the portraits above his fireplace.

The gold in the frame itself was probably worth millions. She walked around slowly, looking at photographs and other crafts on his shelves that she could only dream of owning.

"Perks of being the son of a successful businessman."

"You rich motherfuckers…" Maya picked up a lacquered antique ash tray on the table in his room. "Wow."

"Feel free to have as much scotch if you want it. It's on the nightstand beside my bed," Alex said from his walk in closet, laughing at her comment. "The speeches will be starting soon and those things are hard to get through. You might want to prepare."

Maya walked over and poured herself a fresh glass from the glass jar containing the dark liquor. She wasn't a fan of scotch in the least, but alcohol was alcohol and he was definitely right about the party being hard to get through. She drank a little and had to clear her throat a couple times when it burned more than she was prepared for.

"Damn," she muttered, hopping up on his bed and kicking her legs back and forth as she observed the grandeur of the room. "This shit is sharp!"

Alex came out of his closet, tying his tie on the new shirt he'd put on. "'Only the best,' my father always says."

He poured himself a glass with a sigh, sipping it quietly for a second, his expression somber and a little annoyed. Maya stared at him curiously, noticing his sudden change in demeanor from a few seconds ago.

"Daddy issues?" she asked, patting the seat behind him.

He glanced at her before he nodded slowly and took a seat beside her.

"Yeah. But it's more of a pressure thing. Do you have the same pressure issue?"

Maya snorted. "No. My dad left when I was a kid. He has his own family now. But I know a daddy issue when I see one. So what's wrong? You're inheriting an incredibly successful business. By all means you should be soaking up the attention at the gala and having the time of your life. Yet you're not even in the ballroom and you invited a random PA you've never met to your room who stole Champagne from the party."

He stared at her, his brows furrowed. "Did you really…?"

"Yes," Maya said simply. "You should be more careful. You're a little too trusting for being a CEO and a business mogul. And obviously, you need someone to talk to who isn't part of this world."

"Wow…" he chuckled incredulously. "Even a PA knows how to be a better CEO than me."

"So what's your deal?"

He sighed, taking a sip of his drink. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm even good enough to take over the company, you know? I'm the youngest of seven children, all girls except for me. My oldest sister, Alina, is an expert on business, the apple of my father's eye but he's old fashioned. He believes our company should be inherited by only sons. I'm a disappointment. There's a lot riding on my shoulders, and my father's legacy is incredible. That's a lot of potential to live up to."

"…Is this even what you want? You sound like you want out."

"It's not as easy as you think. Upper class life growing up; they expect you to be a certain way," Alex said. "My father was a tyrant as I grew up. From the moment I was born, I was to take over the company. The choice had been made for me before I even had a chance to decide. This is the only life I fit in. I can't get out."

It made sense. Lucas had mentioned something like that too once upon a time. And Riley practically swam in that kind of life as well. In fact, Maya could remember a time when her friendship with Riley was looked upon in disdain because she wasn't some kind of preapproved "nobility" that was appropriate for Riley to hang out with. Hearing these complaints made her glad she'd been born on the other spectrum, regardless of how tight money was in her life.

"No offence, but that's bullshit," Maya said. Alexander's gaze shot to hers, shocked by her outburst. "If you wanted something different, you should have fought back and shaped your own destiny. You should have fought to do what you want. Do you know what I should have become? A hooker. Or even a call girl of some sort. None of my family had gone to college, my dad was a drug addict before he deserted us, my mom was always working before she got hooked too and went to a treatment center. By all means, I should be knocked up with ten kids already, but look where I am now. I forced myself to become better, I made friends with good influences and found a way to shape who I wanted to become. I'm going to be an artist. Nothing will get in my way of that goal, and I'm not stopping until I reach it. I haven't given up despite all my difficulties and neither should you."

"I get it, Maya. I do understand what you're saying, but it's not as simple as just leaving. I've never pursued anything other than business. I don't know anything other than business, and there's no future for me outside of anything other than business." He stared at the drink in his glass. "But I'm not great at it. I've always been a little slow at it, never truly understanding it. And I'm not the outgoing kind of man who can just take the bull by its horns and master it in one fell swoop."

"Then if you're not leaving business, stop complaining and make yourself better. Find and ally yourself with other business individuals who will help you grow and understand it." Maya rolled her eyes. "Look at my boss. Lucas was about to get his vet license for crying out loud. He was _all_ science until he was twenty-six and then all of a sudden, he's thrown into business. Do you think he started out knowing exactly what to do? I'm sure there were trials and errors made and he had to figure things out to get to where he is now, but he was _abandoned_ by his father. And he managed. You've got people to support you. So be grateful and use them. How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Okay, so you're young. You still have a lot to learn and a lot to grow from and you're going to make mistakes, but you won't gain any experience if you sit around and lament your future like some wimp. Don't be passive. Since this is your life now, work it to your favour. Take control. And maybe once you do, you might enjoy it a little bit."

Alexander was silent for a little while, nodding slowly in understanding, a slight smile on his face.

"Words of wisdom from Maya Hart." She finished off the rest of her glass, coughing a bit as she set it back down on the liquor tray.

"Thank you, Maya. You're pretty abrasive, but I think I needed to hear that."

"You better try though. There's nothing more disgusting than a dumbass who gives up."

"I'll make sure to do just that." He checked his watch. "We should probably head back soon. The speeches and all. My dad will kill me if I'm not there."

Alex set down his scotch glass and pulled back on his suit jacket, buttoning it up and looking down at himself to make sure he was in order.

"How do I look?"

"Your tie is crooked." Maya reached up and straightened it out before patting it back down in place. "I thought you've lived in this world your whole life. How come you don't know how to tie a tie?"

"Someone else has always fixed it for me…"

"Too sheltered." Maya playfully shook her head in disdain. "You have a lot to learn about life, Alexander Poleski."

"Well aware, Maya Hart." He held out his arm to her when she was done. "Shall we head back?"

She nodded and they made their way out of his room and back through the hallways. As they approached the ballroom, Maya could hear the chatter from inside and she realized she hadn't been that far from it in the first place. She'd made a wrong turn somewhere, but at least she'd still been heading in the right direction sort of. As they walked in, she felt several eyes on her and realized it must have been because she was with Alexander. It was funny. By herself, she was a nobody, but on the arm of some businessman like eye candy and suddenly people couldn't stop staring. The same thing had happened when she'd walked in with Lucas earlier that evening.

"There's your boss," Alexander said nervously, swallowing thickly when Lucas made his way over to them when he caught Maya's eye. "Oh God… what do I say?"

Maya gave him a weird look out of the corner of her eye. "Just say hello. He's not going to bite you."

"I see you've returned, Miss Hart," Lucas said when he came to a stop in front of them.

"Lucas, this is Alexander Poleski. Alex, this is Lucas Friar. My boss."

"We've met," he responded, not altogether pleased.

Maya stared at Lucas in confusion, recognizing the subtle irritation in his voice. What was up with him?

"Maya told me some more about you, Lucas. I-I admire you a lot. You're my idol." Alexander stuttered. Maya glanced at Alexander as he spoke, a slight frown on her face. "I mean, your work. I admire your work. I hope we can have good rapport in the future. I-I look forward to working with you."

Lucas smiled, though Maya could tell there was still something a bit like ire in his gaze. "You too, Alexander."

They shook hands, and Alexander smiled brightly, the excitement on his face uncontained and obvious.

"Maya, my father is beckoning me over," he said, turning to her. "I must go, but I enjoyed our conversation. You should come visit me sometime."

Maya rose a brow. "No offence Alex, but mansions scare the shit out of me."

Alexander laughed. "Then maybe lunch? I'd love to take you out."

"Sure. You know how to find me."

He patted her shoulder before he left the two of them and headed over to his father over by the podium and the mini stage. Maya turned to face Lucas who was looking at her a little weirdly.

"How long have you been friends with Alexander?" he asked.

"We just met."

His eyes narrowed. "So where did you go for so long?"

It was definitely an unexpected reaction. Was Lucas jealous?

"How is that any of your business? What if I was in the bathroom, huh?"

"It is my business to know where my PA and my charge for this evening is at all times."

"I've never heard that one before." Maya gave him an amused look. "But if you must know, I was in Alex's room with him. I ruined his clothes when I made a mess on him so he had to change."

She'd ruined his clothes because she spilled her champagne, but Lucas didn't need to know that. Plus, being purposely ambiguous when he was clearly annoyed was fun.

Lucas' brow rose. "Is that so?"

"Are you upset?"

"Not at all," Lucas said, though he wasn't smiling.

"Oh really?" she snarked. "Because I think you are."

"I'm not."

" _Okay_ , Mr. Cranky Pants."

Lucas didn't respond, turning to face the podium when Mark Poleski tapped a glass with a fork to get the attention of the room. He was a terrible liar if he thought saying he wasn't bothered would convince Maya from thinking he wasn't. It didn't take rocket science for Maya to figure out that Lucas wasn't pleased with her.

Man, she loved messing with him.

~.~.~

Maya had wanted to see how long Lucas could be irritated from his obvious jealousy—she enjoyed having the upper hand quite a bit—but by the time they'd left the gala and the whole ride back, he was still particularly cold towards her. He still spoke to her throughout the evening, but she could just sense the frigid professionalism with which he addressed her compared to their interactions earlier that evening.

Even now, walking her to her door, he wasn't particularly open and his expression was stoic and carefully blank. She hadn't known that her little trick would have had such a strong effect on him. It was kind of flattering that she'd managed to bug Lucas Friar that much when he was known for keeping a cool head around most everyone.

"You know, I got you an in with Alex," Maya said, goading him only because she loved seeing him so annoyed. How many times would she get this opportunity again? "You should be thanking me instead of being this asshole."

They came to a stop in front of her apartment door, and Lucas turned to her, a sardonic smirk on his lips.

"Alright then," he said sarcastically. "Thank you for sleeping with Alexander Poleski. That's the perfect way to create associations with other businesses."

"Do you really think I slept with him?" Maya snorted. "Come on now. I thought you were smarter than that."

"I'm disappointed in you. I wanted you to loosen up and enjoy yourself but not in such an unprofessional manner."

"You're a fucking hypocrite. You're lecturing me about not being professional? You sleep with women during the work day. And you gave your PA _liquor_ in the middle of a party."

"I have better things to do than discuss this." He turned to leave. "Goodnight Miss Hart."

"Oh hell no." Maya grabbed his sleeve before he could take a step away from her. Lucas stopped and turned around, the look in his eyes a bit dangerous as he stared down at her. "You are not leaving after being an ass to me and not thanking me for my hard work. You now have a secured business relationship with a prominent company thanks to me, and your thanks is being a dick to me?"

"I have every reason to." He brushed her hand off of his sleeve and straightened it out. "How do you think it reflects on me and my company if my personal assistant is going around sleeping with other company bosses?"

"I can't stand you." Maya shook her head with a scoff. "You are such an ignoramus, jealous motherfucker."

"Excuse me?" Lucas muttered lowly, his expression turning dark.

She'd really pissed him off now, though she couldn't lie that a slight excited chill ran down her back from his obvious irritation. She'd never really seen Lucas _angry_ , though she speculated it was something to avoid, but seeing the sparks of the anger bubbling under his skin was exciting her. She kind of wanted to see him snap, but she didn't want him to be in a pissy mood for the rest of time they worked together. Which meant she had to do damage control, since he clearly wasn't getting it.

She sighed. "You do realize Alexander is gay, right?"

"How do you know?"

"Well, his stuttering around you. Doe eyed ness. The blush he got on his face when you shook his hand. The fact that when I was talking with him, he gushed over you. He has something of a schoolboy crush on you, Lucas." Maya snorted. "And the kicker. An old picture I saw in his room of him and some guy sharing a kiss on some beach in front of a sunset. He's not even attracted to me like that."

Lucas remained speechless, a look of disbelief on his features, and Maya rolled her eyes. It had been pretty obvious to Maya from the start. If Lucas—who supposedly was very perceptive and had an acute sense of understanding of things—didn't pick up on it, his mind must really have been clouded by something. And she knew just what that something was.

"You were totally jealous of me and Alexander," Maya said matter of factly, a smirk on her face. "Completely jealous. You're so obvious."

His eyes narrowed. "I was not jealous."

"Mmhmm. Right. Whatever you say, you jealous mook," she singsonged. "So now where's my thanks for securing a business relationship for your company, huh? And a damn good one at that too."

"Fine. Thank you. I appreciate your help, Miss Hart. You did well. Better than any PA I've ever taken as a business date."

"See? Was that so hard?" Maya said patronizingly, stepping forward and tugging on the lapel of his suit jacket. She felt a little emboldened by the alcohol coursing through her veins. "I'm your lucky charm. Admit it."

He didn't respond, still staring down at her with an eyebrow quirked in slight irritation. Then he reached out, tucking some loose hair on her face behind her ear. Maya's eyes widened as she stiffened in surprise.

"…I guess you are, Maya," he murmured, his finger trailing gently across her cheek before he broke contact. "You look beautiful tonight by the way."

She felt her stomach flutter for a brief moment when he smiled genuinely.

"Go home, Huckleberry," Maya said when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I will see you Monday at eight sharp. Don't be late."

"Oh shut up."

Lucas walked back down the hallway to head on his way home, and Maya watched him leave, her skin still prickling from his soft, barely there touch. She was annoyed that he'd somehow managed to turn around the situation and had gotten the last word in their interaction even though she'd had the upperhand at first. How the hell did he do that?

When he'd disappeared around the corner, she turned and entered her apartment, heading over to the couch where Riley was reading.

"Maya?" Riley asked with a smile. "How'd it go?"

"It was surprisingly fun. I thought I would hate it as usual, but it wasn't so boring this time."

"Your boss didn't harass you, did he?"

"No. He was nice." She plopped on the couch, pulling her constricting dress up and tossing her legs on top of the coffee table. "He let me drink hard liquor. I think I learned a lot of what kind of person Lucas is. I think… I respect him? Not his habits of course, but he's got a surprisingly interesting code he lives by that works for me."

"Well that's good that you have a tolerant boss who you actually work well with for once."

"Yeah… Anyway, how was the date?"

Riley shook her head. "He was too stiff. His belief of the future included a homemaking wife and well, I'm not quite that old fashioned anymore."

"Which you have me to thank for for opening your eyes to the real world and corrupting your original values, right?" Maya said playfully, nudging Riley as she giggled. "Oh yeah. Got you a bottle of this good stuff. I know how you like your Champagne."

"Ooooh thank you!" Riley took it excitedly when Maya pulled it out of her purse. "You didn't steal it again, did you?"

"Of course not. It was a gift." Maya lied. "Anyway, I'm tired. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Maya."

Maya trudged to her bedroom, leaving her heels in the hallway as she yawned.

She really was surprised that she felt more respect towards Lucas now. And if she was truly honest with herself, she kind of was excited to go to work the next week. It was the first time in a long time that she'd felt like maybe being a PA wasn't so much of a chore anymore. And she knew all of that had to do with the fact that Lucas was probably the best boss she had ever had, no matter how annoying and disgusting he was. It was strange.

* * *

It's kind of interesting how it's so easy to get used to a certain relationship that you don't notice when something has shifted. But this, I recognized. There was a shift after the gala. One that was hard to gain. One that we both rarely had in other people. But one we surprisingly found with each other after that night for some inexplicable reason.

Trust.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Guys, please pray for peace in the world. And please pray for everybody who has unfortunately been the target of the barbaric violence that has been plaguing cities. But pray for their safety above all. If anyone wants to talk, my PM box is open.**

 **Hi Guest! I'm sorry, love. I can't write the Eye Candy story because I don't know the show, but I do take prompts and put them in Love And War. If you have a different request, I'd be happy to write it! And hi LucasMayaLover! You're so sweet! I'm trying to go through my list of what hasn't been updated in the longest time, so after this it'll be Next Level and then AoS.**

 **Thank you for all of your patience and I appreciate you all always being so damn kindhearted. Knowing there are such sweet and lovely people like you in the world is heartwarming. I promise the story will pick up speed after this. :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, because if I did, Fuckboy Friar really would be a thing and he would constantly be trying to get into Maya's pants. Just saying…**

* * *

Since the gala, Lucas could honestly say that Maya had been tolerating him more. Acting less frustrated and definitely being a lot nicer than he expected from someone who threatened people using their deepest darkest secrets on the regular. It wasn't that he'd grown on her—she still made it pointedly clear that she despised him every day—but at the least, she ignored most of his antics, only offering a dirty look or an evil eye every once in a while.

But that week, he'd seen a sharp decline in her work ethic. It wasn't noticeable by general standards of "decline". But it was definitely noticeable for _her_. By no means was Maya slacking off, but in terms of the work she had put out in her early employment, he could definitely see that something was wrong.

That week, she'd been coming to the office in a daze, barely speaking or paying attention. She wasn't focused and twice, he had watched her nearly run into the copy machine or into someone else. And it wasn't just that. There was something about her air of pristine aloofness that was cracked. She was a bit too jittery and she'd been growing unusually lax in the way she usually carried herself as prim and proper. She'd forgotten her glasses the day before. And that day, she was wearing shiny red pumps without tights and had her hair in a ponytail instead of her typical bun.

(Not totally bad things, but it certainly got her a few interested looks. Plus the view from his office wasn't too bad).

In other words, she was looking a lot more like what Lucas assumed was her real self and a lot less like the persona she'd created for work.

She looked worn down for some reason, and as much as Lucas wanted to check on his PA and make sure things were okay in her life, he knew that a) she would rebuff his efforts without so much as a glance in his direction, b) they weren't close enough that he felt she would trust him with personal business, and c) they were currently at a tentative truce; any measures he took to try to talk to her about anything outside of work could potentially end in Maya trying to chuck a pen at his head.

But this distracted Maya was not okay. He needed her on top of her game at all times, because he'd catered his life to revolve around her speed and accuracy, and if she started slacking, it would throw him off too. He supposed this was inevitable. After all, most of his PAs started out gung ho and energetic, but after a while, grew exhausted and frustrated working for him and stopped caring as much. As much as he didn't want it to be true, maybe this was the start of Maya's decline.

Today was the worst of all. Maya had been spacing out so much she'd missed two simultaneous phone calls to the desk. And now Katelyn Mercer was standing in front of Maya's desk impatiently, yet she hadn't seemed to notice, sitting there and rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly. He understood some people had off days, but Maya's had far overstayed its welcome.

Lucas stood from his desk with an aggravated sigh, heading out of his office and leaning against the doorframe.

"Miss Hart."

Maya blinked in surprise at her name, snapping her head up and looking around in confusion before settling on the brunette in front of her desk.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How long have you been standing there?" Maya said, fumbling to put her glasses back on her face.

"It's no matter. I've found my target." Katelyn flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning to Lucas with a bright smile. "Hi Lucas. You never called me, so I came here today to visit you. You really should do something about your ditz secretary. She didn't answer any of the calls I made, and she isn't paying any attention."

"I'm no ditz," Maya said in affront. "And I'm a personal assistant, not a secretary."

"Personal assistant," Katelyn retorted. "Glorified secretary sleeping with her boss. What's the difference?"

She shot up from her chair, her blue eyes glinting dangerously. "What'd you say, you bimbo?"

" _Miss Hart_." Lucas warned, stopping her before she tried to attack her. He didn't like Katelyn insulting Maya either, but Maya seemed too geared up for a fight. "Can I help you, Katelyn? I have better things to do than sit here and listen to you trash talk my employee."

"Lukey. Baby. You're actually defending that tr—"

"If you have nothing interesting to say, I'd like you to leave." He rose a brow. "You're disturbing my work space. So tell me what you're doing here?"

"Fine. Chill out. I'm just kidding." She rolled her eyes, sauntering over to him with a flirtatious smile. She smoothed out the lapel of his suit as she batted her eyelashes. "I'm bored. I kept thinking about how we had so much fun in college. It's been a while. What do you say? One more romp in the hay for old time sakes? My technique has improved."

"Really?" Lucas snorted, raising a brow. "What's my mother's scheme this time? A pre-broken condom you provide?"

She gasped indignantly. "I don't know what you're talking—."

"Cut the crap. You're here because I told my mother I wasn't interested in having a girlfriend so she's trying to get you impregnated by me."

Maya choked on her spit from his words, coughing and slapping her chest with wide eyes. She wasn't the only one who had a similar reaction. Lucas found it amusing that the people who had been in his office the longest were used to situations in the office like that by this point, yet his newer hires were all looking completely alarmed and shocked by the revelation.

"What was the backup plan if I didn't use your condom?" Lucas asked.

"I was supposed to steal whatever one we did end up using and store it for insemination."

"Well, at least that's better than the falsified DNA test thing."

Lucas glanced at Maya and nearly started laughing when he caught the sight of her appalled expression. Maya clearly had no idea how crazy some of the families he'd grown up around were, his own included. And these were among the least ridiculous of schemes to try to get him to settle down.

Katelyn chuckled. "You always were more perceptive than your mother gave you credit for. I guess that means I failed."

Lucas sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tapping his finger on his arm. "How much was she going to pay you?"

"One point two million."

"You can leave. It's not going to happen."

Katelyn let go of his lapel, shrugging indifferently. "It was worth a try. You know, you're only making it harder on yourself by not listening to your mother."

"I don't care," he said. "And when you talk to my mother, make sure to let her know her schemes won't work, no matter who she pays or what amount."

"Suit yourself, Lucas." Katelyn spun on her heel and clicked away in a cloud of noxious perfume.

Lucas walked fully out of his office, giving the eavesdropping people a stern look to get on task. They cleared their throats and quickly hurried to get back to their work. Today had been a seriously unproductive day from start to finish, and Lucas wondered if Maya's poorer performance was subconsciously influencing everyone else.

"Your mom was going to pay someone that much money to conceive your child?!" Maya asked incredulously once Katelyn was gone.

"It would force me to take her as my wife or suffer consequences of a destroyed public image," he explained.

"What kind of parent tries to force their kid to get married?" Maya looked horrified. "What the fuck? That's terrifying."

"That's my life. My mother doesn't play about that."

"Yeah clearly." Maya shook her head in disdain, turning back to her computer screen. "You know, you've gotten about thirty emails from her in the past two weeks with the subjects being eligible bachelorettes. I don't open them, but she's definitely not giving up on this. No offense, but your mom sounds like she's a little nuts."

He knew his mom was nuts. She used to put him in the shed every time he slept with her family friends' daughters and dumped them without a second thought.

"She was the crazy one of our family friend group. She tries to pay people off to end up in bed with me. I have to run background checks on pretty much everyone I meet."

"Doesn't that raise alarms? My mom is kind of a screwball too. She's weird sometimes and goofy, but she would never try anything like that." Maya rose a brow. "Don't you think you should settle this issue before it gets bad? In my experience, ignoring my mom for an extended period of time results in her tracking me down and embarrassing me in public. One time in high school, I didn't come home for a week so she showed up at my school in a bathrobe and her rollers to teach me a lesson. Your mom may not be in New York right now, but when she comes back, aren't you worried she's going to start taking more drastic measures to get you hitched?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there." Lucas approached Maya's desk. "But enough about that. We need to talk about your performance at work."

"I've been on time these past couple weeks in case you didn't notice," she muttered absentmindedly.

"I noticed. That's not it."

"Then make it quick. I have to finish documenting this thingy about the meeting yesterday so I can get out of here. And I haven't updated your schedule for next week yet…"

But even in saying that, he could clearly see she wasn't particularly doing work or focusing on what she was doing. She had his business calendar up and she had her hands on the keyboard, but she was staring at the screen as if lost in thought.

Lucas' eyes narrowed, and he snapped his fingers right in front of her face to get her attention back. Maya's eye twitched in annoyance before she looked up at him, death glare on her face.

"…Did you just snap in my face?"

"I would rather have not, but pay attention, Miss Hart. You've fallen behind on your work." Lucas leaned against the front of her desk. "Dani Clarke's reservation files from two days ago. What happened to them? I asked for them to be completed by this morning, but I have yet to find them on my desk nor have you mentioned them or filed them."

"Clarke files…? I thought I…" She slid her fingers into her hair, gripping the strands with a groan. "Shit. I forgot to take them home."

He frowned. "Where are they?"

Maya averted her gaze, her brows furrowed. "Still in your file cabinet."

Lucas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Those needed to be finished before my meeting tomorrow morning. Are they organized at least?"

"…No."

"Have they been updated with current circumstances?"

"…No."

"So nothing is actually ready for the meeting?"

She chewed on her lower lip, glancing up at him apologetically. "Sorry."

That was a first.

And she actually looked remorseful.

Lucas knew there was seriously something wrong if Maya was apologizing _and_ she didn't get work done in a timely manner. Not only that, he could see now that she looked like she was stewing over something that had probably cost her tons of sleep because she had bags under her eyes. What was going on with Maya?

(But was it bad that he found her slightly bashful behaviour a turn on?)

"This isn't like you," he remarked.

A presumptuous statement, he knew, especially since he wasn't particularly well acquainted with Maya, but he could just tell that she was very off her game.

"Urgh, I know…" Maya leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. "What's with me? I can't believe I'm letting it get to my head…"

He sat on the edge of her desk. "Letting what? Is this a work related issue? Because if it is, it's my duty as your boss to help you take care of it. If the workload is too much, just let me know. I give you a lot of responsibilities because I know you can handle it, but I don't want to burn you out."

"That's not it." She gave him a slightly grateful smile, waving her hand in dismissal. "It's nothing big."

Even if she said that, he could smell her lie a mile away. Whatever was bugging her _was_ big and bad enough that it was interfering with her work, but there was a guarded look in her eyes, and he knew better than to piss her off by prying where she didn't want him to.

"Well, in the meantime, we have no choice but to finish it tonight." He ran a hand through his hair. "This is going to take all night. I need you to come to my place tonight."

"I may be exhausted, Huckleberry," she said through grit teeth, her lip curled in disgust, "but even I'm not that delirious that I would willingly go to your nasty bachelor sex pad. I would like to reiterate that there's no chance in hell that I'm _ever_ ending up in your bed. So cut that out."

Lucas chuckled. There was the knife-like verbal derision from Maya that he was used to.

"As much as I would _love_ to have you in my bed one day," Lucas drawled sarcastically and Maya rolled her eyes, wrinkling her nose, "I meant strictly for business. You have no choice since we need to finish that paperwork tonight. I'm leaving in thirty. Best pack your bags."

Maya eyed him in distrust, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him carefully. Lucas honestly didn't have ulterior motives regarding his request, even if he did want to know why Maya had been so messed up this week.

"I would also like to point out that this isn't a request. It's an order."

"Fine." She grumbled. "You try to put the moves on me though, and I'll really show you the meaning of pain."

"I look forward to it." He headed back toward his office to gather the files that they would need to work on. "And just so you know, my apartment is not my bachelor sex pad. That's the penthouse suite at the hotel on the corner of 5th."

"Revolting."

~.~.~

"Do you have any takeout menus?" Maya asked, groaning and leaning against the back of the couch. "I'm famished."

He was kind of hungry too. They'd been working all evening, trying to get the accounts together for his meeting, and though they'd made better progress, there was still a ton of stuff that had to be fixed and dealt with. But working on an empty stomach was not ideal.

He frowned. "I'm not really a takeout kind of guy."

"You cook?" she said with a slight scoff that made him wonder if she was making fun of him.

"I live alone. Of course I do." Lucas stood, loosening his tie from his neck and setting it on the back of his kitchen. He rolled up his sleeves on his forearm as he headed to his fridge to check if he had anything. He hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while. "Do you mind pasta?"

"That actually sounds kind of good." She yawned and he could hear the slight pops of cracking joints from behind him. "Didn't take you for a cooking kind of guy. Thought you'd have maids or room service to do that or something."

Lucas grabbed a stir fry pan and pot and some ingredients he would need to make something fast.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Maya."

Especially regarding the way he'd tried everything in his power to reject the high society lifestyle his mother had imposed on him all throughout his life. He'd always preferred being self-sufficient.

" _Maya_?" she said playfully. "That's surprisingly informal."

"We're not at work or a work function."

"True. Then you won't mind if I relax a bit?"

"Knock yourself out."

He glanced behind him curiously. Lucas couldn't remember the last time he'd ever brought a woman to any of his places and it wasn't connected to sex. Hell, he rarely ever brought women to his actual apartment since he didn't want any of them to get the wrong idea, so it was actually a little odd to see Maya sitting kind of sprawled on his carpet.

Maya looked fairly comfortable, her earlier stiffness when they'd first arrived nearly gone. She had kicked off her heels to one corner and was currently unbuttoning a few of the top buttons of her blouse. But when she reached up and tugged off her hair scrunchie and shook out her hair, he turned around and continued with his task.

This was not the ideal location to be watching Maya while she did _that_.

It was a strange image, seeing his uptight PA so damn lax, but she looked more natural that way. As if this was her normal state of being. In some small way, he felt he'd been rewarded with seeing the real Maya she hid from her profession.

"You got any wine?" she asked several minutes later after sitting quietly in the living room.

"I didn't take you for the kind of person to drink wine with dinner." He drained the water in the pasta in the sink and then flipped the vegetables in the stir fry pan.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, _Lucas_." She riposted, doing a poor imitation of his accent. Lucas chuckled to himself. "I'm not really. My roommate just got me hooked on it."

"I don't have any. I'm not a wine person either." He hated it, in fact. "My mother kept trying to force it down my throat at dinner parties when I was younger. I never understood why she would spend over five thousand dollars on bottles of wine and then decide not to open them for another ten years. It was ridiculous."

"I hear ya. Hey, this smells really good." Maya ambled into the kitchen, peeking past his arm curiously as he finished dinner and practically pressing herself against him. He caught a whiff of her perfume, a sultry scent, and fought his urge to inhale. Was she doing this on purpose? "My roommate has a bottle she's been aging since she was eighteen. I guarantee it will taste just as shitty now as it did when she got it."

"Half the time, it's bitter as hell too. I do have some beer though."

"I'll take one. I think I'll need one after all that work we did," she said appreciatively. "Is that homemade? Can I try the sauce?"

He scooped some out with the mixing spoon, holding it out to Maya. He expected her to take it from his hand and taste it herself, but instead, she leaned into him and closed her mouth around the spoon. Lucas watched her suck lightly and then close her eyes and let out a soft moan that almost instantly made his blood flow south.

The look she gave him through her eyelashes made him go still, especially when she took her mouth off of the spoon and slowly licked her lips. With her hair spilling over her shoulders and her shirt unbuttoned just enough that he could see the top of her bra, there was no way he could stop his thoughts from going to the gutter.

She was definitely doing it on purpose.

"Having fun?" he asked lowly.

"Quite actually." She took her lower lip between her teeth, a devious smile on her face. "It's really good, by the way. Creamy. Not too salty."

He set his hand on the counter behind her, leaning down with a smirk. "It's not going to work, Maya."

"It's already worked," she responded slowly in just as low a tone, her eyes dancing in amusement. "I know exactly what you're thinking, you dirty, dirty, pervy man."

He had way more self-control than she credited him, but he couldn't deny that the image his mind was conjuring was definitely not appropriate considering the circumstances. It was the same, only Maya was wearing red lipstick and instead of the spoon in her mouth, it was his c—

Lucas turned away from her, stirring the sauce in the pot. "You must take pleasure from inconveniencing other people."

"Not my fault you almost got a boner from me sucking on a spoon. That says more about you than it does me."

She started chuckling to herself and took a step away from him, looking around his kitchen.

"Where are your plates?"

"That cupboard." He opened his fridge and set two beers out onto the counter.

Lucas didn't realize why Maya had asked about the plates until he saw her set a foot on one of the lower handles of a drawer. She climbed up on the counter with an impressive ease, figuring out where to put her feet and how to tug herself up in just the perfect way to prevent herself from crashing to the floor. And the view of her ass poking out as she got her knee on the ledge wasn't bad either. Lucas had always wondered how Maya managed to get the projector screen in the middle of the main conference room on for meetings, but now he knew she probably climbed on the table.

He stared at her, half tempted to laugh his ass off when she rose to her feet. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I do this all the time with pretty much every place I go to. Houses and flats aren't usually made to accommodate short people, you know?"

"Really? Even if someone can see up your skirt—which I can, by the way." Though really, he could only see thigh. If she moved her foot, he was sure she'd be flashing her underwear. "I could have just gotten them, you know?"

"Then stop looking." She opened the cupboard in question and got the plates. "You focus on finishing dinner. I'm hungry."

Lucas was honestly kind of speechless. There was just something incredibly funny, but also perplexing about Maya Hart climbing counters to grab plates out of his kitchen cupboards. He almost lamented the fact that he hadn't thought to get a picture of it. It was amazing how she seemed to have a complete revolution, making herself right at home in his apartment in a way that he could never have envisioned the Maya at work doing. She seemed way more laidback than he'd ever seen her before. More amazing than that was the fact that she was actually being _civil_ , like she reserved her hostility for work only. Then again, Lucas wasn't trying to aggravate her either, and her company wasn't altogether a bad thing.

"Here." Maya handed him the plates as he cut off the stove.

"Do you need a hand down?" he asked, watching her bend down painstakingly slow to get off the counter.

"And give you an excuse to cop a feel?" She rose a brow, hopping off the ledge and moving to get silverware. "As much as it _pains_ me to deny you that opportunity, I'm going to have to pass. I'm not giving you a chance to 'return the favour'."

He snorted. "You are unbelievably jaded. For your information, I had no intention to cop a feel."

Though he would return the favour eventually. She wasn't the only one who knew how to seduce people.

"Well?" She turned around, forks in her hand. "Soup's on?"

He couldn't help the smile that came to his face at her eager enthusiasm. Was there something particular about homecooking that excited Maya?

"Yeah."

~.~.~

"Is that you on that bull?" Maya suddenly asked.

Lucas looked up from perusing a document and glanced over his shoulder. He'd divided the work into two and moved to the kitchen island with his chunk to not clutter up his coffee table or mingle both sets of paperwork. He'd been pretty engrossed in his work that he almost forgot Maya was also there, save for the occasional scratching of her pen on paper.

Maya was gesturing to a picture on his wall. It was from his teen years back when he used to visit his Pappy Joe whenever he could escape his mother's clutches.

He nodded. "Yeah. I used to do it recreationally before college."

"The crazy things you learn about people every day…" she muttered, looking kind of impressed. "I just can't picture you riding a bull."

"It's understandable. You're used to a certain image of me."

His mother had always hated that he had the same adventurous ambitions and need to take risks as his father and grandfather. She called it the Friar curse, and she'd kept such severe tabs on him because she always believed he would end up like his father. For all he knew, his mother could be right. Lucas still had that itch in his heart to go out and do something risky in his life that had never been quelled. Becoming the CEO of his father's company had done nothing to tamp that desire down.

"You're like…" she paused, considering what she was saying.

"Like what?"

"I don't know how to put it, but it's like… you're a different person in your home. It's unexpected."

He wondered if she meant in a good way. But judging by her simple curiosity and the total lack of subtle distaste that usually was in her gaze when she looked at him, it wasn't meant to be taken in a bad way.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He signed another one of the documents. "I consider this my safe place. No airs. I can finally stop being Lucas Friar the CEO. Well, except when my PA forgets to finish up work and I have to bring it home with me."

"Quit your bitchin'. This is my first offense as your PA." She rolled her eyes.

"It most certainly is not."

Her cheeks rouged. "My point is, I make mistakes, and then I never make the same ones again. So I'm sorry about screwing this up. But it's a onetime ordeal."

"Is it?" He pressed. He was hoping she could shed some light on what was the source of her ire this week. The sooner it was figured out, the sooner he could have his PA back. "What happens if whatever has been distracting you all week comes back again?"

"He won't."

"He, huh?" Lucas hadn't been aware Maya was seeing someone. She carried herself so irritated and jaded all the time that it never crossed his mind that she would ever be remotely interested in a relationship with anyone. She also didn't seem much like the dating kind. And on top of that, he suspected she was the kind to scare men away if they didn't know how to handle her. "Boyfriend trouble?"

"Never was a boyfriend." Maya picked at her fingernails, glowering at one of the papers. "And it's not _trouble_. He wants to hook up, and I don't."

She was still keeping mum whatever had happened that had her distracted out of her mind, but Lucas could see how closed off she'd become to the conversation. She wasn't going to reveal any more, no matter how much it was plaguing her thoughts. As much as he wanted to ask about it, he knew it wasn't his place.

She started working again and he knew she was done talking about it. He only hoped she took care of it soon.

~.~.~

Lucas had been drifting in and out of focus, starting to feel his fatigue catch up to him as he put the finishing touches on the last paper. Thankfully, he was finally done.

When he glanced at his watch, he realized it was half past two. They'd been working their asses off all evening and time had passed so quickly, he didn't realize it had gotten this late. He needed to get some sleep, especially since he had an early morning and a meeting he would have to prep for.

Maya had been fairly quiet for a pretty long time though. He turned around and was surprised to find her half sprawled on the coffee table, her hair draping over her shoulders and back, glasses resting haphazardly on the edge as she snored softly. How exhausted had she been for her to fall asleep on a table doing work? And in front of her boss, no less.

But in typical Maya fashion, she had gotten all the work done, even organizing the files in alphabetical order.

Lucas moved to wake her up and ask if she wanted a ride home, but upon closer inspection, he could see that she was practically drooling on her arm. Maya was pretty much dead to the world in deep sleep and he didn't want to ruin her sleep by waking her up. He wondered if she hadn't slept for days to end up like that, no inhibitions and guard completely down despite the fact that she had measured trust around him.

He felt bad about it. She clearly needed a good night's rest. And she wasn't going to get one sleeping on a table. Plus she would wake up with a neck or back cramp.

Sighing in exasperation, he stooped beside her, scooping her up gingerly from the table and making sure she was situated comfortably in his arms. She was really light, and small too, smaller than he expected. Maya shifted towards him with a pleased sigh as he carried her down the hall to his bedroom, snuggling against him and loosely fisting his shirt. He set her carefully under the covers on his bed, and then placed them on top of her. She snuggled into a ball, her eyelashes fluttering on her cheeks the slightest bit, though she didn't wake.

It was strange seeing her in this docile fashion, relaxed, scowl gone, guard completely down. She looked at peace for once, less on edge than she normally was. _Soft_. It was strange.

Lucas cut the lights in his room and left. He grabbed some extra linens and pillows from his hall closet, heading to the couch in the living room to make his temporary bed. He'd gotten displaced from a comfortable night's rest, but despite that, he wasn't particularly annoyed. He was kind of amused that there was a woman sleeping in his bed, and it wasn't because he'd tired her out.

It was a day of firsts for him. Brought about solely because of Maya.

She was an odd woman. How the hell could she be so vicious on a regular basis, but be so alluring and beguiling one second and then look sweet the next?

She was _captivating_.

* * *

I don't know what really compelled me to let her stay over and sleep. I enjoyed my privacy to be honest, and letting Maya sleep in my bed was something altogether weird, but for some reason, I couldn't help it.

I had a soft spot for the damn vixen.


End file.
